


A Baby Through the Viewfinder

by green-leaf (greenleaf)



Series: Tales of an Endless Heart [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe, Domestic Bliss, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family Feels, M/M, Parent Steve Rogers, Parent Tony Stark, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, baby photos
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-07-10 03:52:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 27,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15941234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greenleaf/pseuds/green-leaf
Summary: “A monthly what?” Steve asked.“A monthly baby photo book,” Tony said, grinning. “Kids grow like a weed and while we’ve both got eidetic memory and an AI that could record every single moment of our child’s life in this tower and beyond–”Steve winced. “Please don’t do that to our child, or to us, or to our teammates, or to the people in this building.”





	1. Day of Birth + First Month

**Author's Note:**

> This is a really, really, incredibly self-indulgent fic to feed my parents!Stony and Avengers!family needs. So expect much fluff and feels and cuteness. This is a standalone fic, but feel free to check out the other stories in the series.
> 
> I consider the entire series MCU-adjacent and doesn’t particularly follow any timeline or canon, but you may read about some canon stuff here and there.
> 
> I don’t know much about babies, but I did some research and looked up a lot of baby infos, monthly photos, and milestones. Don’t take this as a guideline though. I may have taken liberties for the sake of plot.
> 
> I also tried to kind of portray the passing months or seasons and holidays, and did a bit of research on the weather in New York and stuff like that. I live in a Southeast Asian country that only has two seasons – torrential downpour and sunburn sunny – so if I get things wrong, just ignore them or feel free to say so, but _nicely._
> 
> In short, god knows I spend more time researching the details of my goddamn fics than actually writing them, so please allow me the mistakes I have undoubtedly made. 
> 
> Thank you all. Enjoy.

Tony proposed the idea of a monthly baby photo book to Steve a month before Gail Antera, their birth mother, was due to give birth.

Steve looked at his husband in confusion, which was par for the course since his husband was Anthony Edward Stark, who swung between crazy and genius at the drop of a penny…or a hundred dollar bill as it were, because Tony Stark did not carry change in those hideously expensive slacks, nuh-uh, no way. 

He looked up from his sketchbook. Tony was on the floor, greased up from hands to elbows, neck, and left cheek from working on… something, but it was obvious his mind was multitasking.

“A monthly what?” Steve asked.

“A monthly baby photo book,” Tony said, grinning. “Kids grow like a weed and while we’ve both got eidetic memory and an AI that could record every single moment of our child’s life in this tower and beyond–”

Steve winced. “Please don’t do that to our child, or to us, or to our teammates, or to the people in this building.”

“Do not worry, Captain,” JARVIS interjected. “Despite Sir’s claims, I do have limitations. And I do enforce them.”

“I’ve got no problems with you,” Steve said, pointing a pencil at the nearest camera. “I’m more worried about Tony ignoring said limitations.”

“Quite, but I have taken care to ignore his more outrageous demands,” JARVIS said.

Steve smiled. “Good. Thank you, JARVIS.”

Tony snapped his fingers. “Hey! Hey! Hey! Hello! I’m talking here!”

“I know you are, dear,” Steve said soothingly, “But if we don’t nip these things in the bud, you’re going to run a mile with them.” He waved a hand. “Go on.”

Tony was quiet for a few moments, grease-streaked nose scrunching up a little. No doubt he was wondering what issue to address, but he shrugged off the slight against his person and went back on topic. Obviously his idea took precedence over Steve’s jab.

“Anyway, most parents have a monthly photo book made just so they could brag about how cute their children are while they’re still actually cute enough to have a picture of them taken, or to make creative, blackmail-worthy photos that will haunt their kids for the rest of their lives.” Steve sighed at that, but Tony pressed on. “But people also use it to record their baby’s milestones and important events that have happened over the month and important memories and stuff like that. So I think we should make one for the baby.”

Steve thought about that. It was a pretty good idea, some mementos for their child when they were older and it was also something of a family project for him, Tony, and their baby. “That sounds like a good idea,” he said. “It’ll be fun.”

“Knew you’d like it.” Tony grinned in satisfaction, ducking back into the square-ish contraption on his workshop floor. “Practically everyone has one these days.”

Oh, that was a thought. Steve leaned forward.

“Do you have one, Tony?”

There was a beat of silence.

“…No.”

Steve perked up, the question almost tripping over his tongue, but after almost a year of beating around the bush, two years of dating, and then two years of being married to him, Steve was practically an expert on Tony-speak. Tony kept fiddling with the contraption, but by the way he was moving, he was obviously tinkering with it just for something to do.

Finally, the man sighed and let himself plop down on the workshop floor on his butt, leaning back on his hands. He kept his gaze on his lap.

“I had one, not a monthly book though. We all had our pictures taken, me, Mom, and... Howard.” Tony made a face, prompting Steve to push his sketchbook aside and move over to sit beside him on the floor. “We had a family photo and a solo portrait done every year. Usually these are the ones we send out to the press and stuff, or the ones they put on the generic Stark Christmas cards, or whatever.”

Steve sat close, legs crossed, facing the same way Tony was, their shoulders touching.

“…May I see them?”

Tony shrugged, the move too calculated and too stiff. “Sure, I guess. Nothing interesting about them though.” He waved a hand. “Jay, bring up the folder on Stark family photos, you know the ones.”

“Of course, Sir,” JARVIS said.

A hologram appeared, hovering just in front of them, showing a series of photos dated by year. Steve pressed his shoulder against his husband’s comfortingly, before leaning forward to inspect them, bringing up each one. Tony didn’t seem inclined to say anything about them, so Steve didn’t think to ask.

It wasn’t as if Steve hadn’t seen pictures of a younger Tony before. Those kinds of things tend to come up if you’d been together for years, your husband was a celebrity and a superhero with websites and blogs dedicated to photos of him, and when you had incredibly nosy teammates. But these were something else, more personal images that Tony kept close to his chest.

The first set were pictures of Tony and his family from the day he was born – one of newborn Tony in a blanket, a family picture, and then one each of his parents with newborn Tony in their arms. Steve chose not to comment or linger on the happy smiles on the Stark parents’ faces, especially the rare one on Howard. The next sets were more the same, taken on Tony’s birthdays, Howard’s birthdays, Maria’s birthdays, a family picture, and then the same family picture but printed to have the words ‘Merry Christmas from the Stark Family’ written on the front. All of them were stiff, formal… severe.

There were eighteen sets in total, one set on the day of Tony’s birth and one set for every year until Tony was seventeen. It stopped then, most likely because of Howard and Maria’s deaths.

Hovering over a few more tabs, Steve noticed that there was a gap in the pictures and the next that followed were from the age of twenty-one years onwards, the time Tony became Stark Industries CEO. He didn’t have to look closer to see that they were outlandish, scandalous even, some scribbled with ‘Merry Christmas from Tony Stark’ with a gaudy kiss mark at the end. He’d seen those before. They usually came up every slow season or so when journalists were in the mood to dig up Tony’s explosive and controversial bachelor days.

Steve couldn’t help noticing the glaring fact that, even considering those of his playboy days, there were only a handful of pictures that had Tony smiling, _really_ smiling, and those were the ones from the ages of one, two, and three. After that, his expressions ranged from despondent to defiant to cocky to… lifeless.

It was so different from the gorgeous, flamboyant, overconfident man Steve had first met, or the more gorgeous, more flamboyant, more overconfident, gentle, kind, self-sacrificing, lovely man Steve had fallen in love with.

There was a beep and Steve turned, managing to duck away when he almost got clonked on the face by a claw.

“Hey! Hey! Hey, you hunk of junk. You’re going to hit Steve.” Tony whacked DUM-E’s base. There was an undercurrent of relief in his voice at the tension breaking.

“It’s fine,” Steve said, rubbing Tony’s thigh soothingly. “What’s that in your claw, DUM-E?”

DUM-E waved his claw and dropped something on Steve’s lap. It was a crumpled photo. When he looked at it, Steve couldn’t help the chuckle that bubbled up. It was a photo of Tony and DUM-E, taken at MIT when Tony was seventeen for that engineering award he won.

Steve held it up to show Tony, who groaned, while DUM-E waved his arm in excitement.

“Yeah, yeah, that’s you, you big baby.” Tony grumbled, flicking DUM-E’s camera lightly.

“Where did he even get this?” Steve asked, rubbing DUM-E’s pump valve in contrast.

“He found it in my files and had JARVIS print it out. He keeps it in his charging station,” Tony said. He was scoffing, but Steve was intimately familiar with that twitch to his lip.

“Now that I think about it, this is DUM-E’s first photo, and his first photo with you,” Steve said. “It makes sense for him to keep it.”

He pretended not to notice the bashfulness that crossed Tony’s face or the way DUM-E patted his creator’s head and how Tony subsequently karate-chopped him. Instead, Steve held up the photo against the hologram of Tony’s seventeen year old family photo. It made his chest ache thinking that compared to his family photo, young Tony looked happier beside DUM-E with the little half-smirk on his face and the bright, mischievous look in his eyes.

“What are you doing?” Tony asked. “What are you looking at?”

Steve shrugged, diverting. “You were good-looking even as a kid.”

As expected, Tony took it with a wink and fluttering eyelashes, but Steve laughed and kissed his cheek.

“Don’t let it get to your head. I’m pretty sure even then, you knew just how good-looking you were,” Steve said, handing DUM-E back his photo. “Me at seventeen was,” he waved a hand, laughing a little, “short, skinny, couldn’t even walk without tripping or breathe without coughing afterwards, and definitely not the kind of ladies’ man in high school compared to how you were in college.”

“You were adorable though,” Tony said, leaning against Steve. He waved a hand and JARVIS, ever dependable and intuitive, brought up a photo of tiny Steve with his Ma. It was one of Steve’s few and most cherished photos. Steve didn’t really like anybody looking at those, but he didn’t mind if it was Tony.

“I was a mess,” Steve admitted, “Always getting my butt kicked trying to deal with bullies and needed Bucky to save me.”

“Same here, except I had Rhodey,” Tony said, chuckling.

Steve grinned and leaned his temple against Tony’s.

“That was around the time your Mom died, right?” Tony asked gently.

“Yeah. She died about two months after I turned eighteen, the only reason I didn't end up in the system.”

They sat there feeling a little contemplative and nostalgic, and Steve looked at his and Tony’s pictures side-by-side.

Steve himself didn’t have a lot of photographs or mementos, at least, not a lot of personal ones. And no, the museum collections dedicated to him didn’t count. His few pictures and personal and private effects were kept by the army and then scrounged up by Howard and then Tony himself. But he liked pictures. They were a form of art, which Steve appreciated. And while he wasn’t into taking pictures of himself – selfies as Tony kept telling him – he liked group pictures – groufies, and seriously, these nicknames were sometimes really weird. He especially liked the ones with the team, and he really, really liked random ones, the candid shots that captured real moments. He much preferred pictures of Tony than himself though, and now with a baby, _their_ baby, in the mix, he wouldn’t mind having a lot of pictures of their family.

“I like the idea. I think we should do it,” Steve said.

Tony looked up at him, smiling. “We’ll do it? We’ll do a monthly photo book for our baby?”

“Sure. It’ll be nice, memories for all of us.” Steve smiled, leaning down to kiss Tony gently. He tasted a little like coffee, sugar, and the sandwich Steve had to force him to eat, but his mouth was warm and sweet and Steve loved him. He leaned back and Tony was a little flushed and a lot happy. “But I don’t want it to be about milestones and… and not just random memories though.”

Tony tilted his head, confused. “Hm? What’d you have in mind?”

Steve shrugged. “I don’t know. We’ll think of something. Now, come on. You’re a mess and you need a shower, dinner, a movie, and then bed.”

Tony grinned. “Join me!”

Steve sighed, as if it was such a burden, but the kiss he placed on Tony’s nose probably didn’t help. He stood up and looked down at his own grease-stained shirt from Tony’s questing fingers.

“Fine. Fine. You got me all dirty already anyway, and I guess I can waste a little time on you.”

Tony laughed and let Steve haul him up and out the door.

 

 

 **[JUNE - DAY OF BIRTH]**  

Steve knew he and Tony lucked out big time when it came to birth mothers. Gail Antera was beautiful, brilliant, incredibly kind, and doubly patient, which was no mean feat considering how overprotective he and Tony became the moment Gail agreed to allow them to adopt her unborn child. Steve was usually the calmer of the two of them, but even he had almost agreed with Tony when he just about wanted to stash Gail away at the Avengers Tower so she and the baby were safe.

But Gail had a mind of her own. She wanted to stay at her apartment and continue her work at Stark Industries for as long as possible. She lived alone and she liked that, so no bodyguards, no SHIELD, and no robots. They soon realized that she was her own person and that she was the _mother_ of their child, so she knew her body better than anyone and no one was going to get her to change her mind.

It was only that much respect, fondness and love for Gail that kept Steve and Tony from respectively punching and suing the hospital staff when they reminded them that according to Gail’s wishes, no one was allowed inside the delivery room apart from the medical staff. Not even Bruce, even though Tony insisted he was their baby’s physicist.

He just received odd looks from everybody for that, even Bruce, even Steve…

…who remembered once again that he was in love with the craziest and most amazing man in the world and that they were going to have a daughter, so they ended up just clinging to one another and crying.

Bucky had a video of them, the jerk. Steve managed to delete it from his phone, but he already sent copies to Clint and Natasha and Pepper.

So Steve, Tony, the Avengers, Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy waited and paced and cried (just the new parents though, as Bucky liked reminding them) until hours and hours later, they finally got to see the baby.

Steve was shaking and he had to hold on to Tony’s hand to stop it. He had a small bouquet of flowers in his other hand with a card for Gail. The others would come in and bring in more presents for her later once she was resting and had settled nicely into her private room.

“Everybody decent?” Tony called out as they slowly shuffled in. “I mean, I’ve seen worse and I’ve been seen at my worst so pretty much nothing can surprise me but, you know, I just thought I’d ask to be polite.”

Gail’s laugh was gentle and bright. Steve thought it was only romanticised in books, but Gail’s laugh always reminded him of the pretty sound of tinkling bells.

“I’m fine, Tony. We’re fine.”

“Gail. How are you?” Steve asked as they approached her bedside. “These are for you.”

Despite only just giving birth, Gail looked like a vision. Her long, dark hair tumbled about her shoulders and face. She looked tired, but she was glowing and smiling widely as she cradled a bundle to her chest.

“Thank you. Those look gorgeous,” she said, her brown eyes shining. “And I’m perfectly fine. How about the new Dads? You two seem stressed.” She grinned.

Tony stuck his tongue out. “I’m really trying not to cry and scream and faint all at the same time here, so cut me some slack.”

Steve chuckled a little wetly and a lot overwhelmed. He could see a peek of dark hair on the little head resting against Gail’s chest and he was so excited. But he and Tony had talked about this and Tony already had his phone in hand. He put away the bouquet on a nearby vase. He had to resist reaching for the bundle in Gail’s arms, because once he did, he wasn’t letting go.

“Tony,” he whispered and elbowed him as Gail grinned at them.

“Okay. Who gets to hold her first?” she asked.

“Wait. Before we hold her,” Tony rocked on his heels in excitement. “Gail, we’re thinking of making a monthly baby photo book.”

Gail was far too used to Tony’s babbling mouth and tendency to go off topic and simply nodded. “Oh, as in taking a picture of her every month? That sounds like a good idea.”

“Yep,” Tony turned to Steve and Steve just had to kiss him on the cheek in encouragement, “And Steve and I agreed that not only are you getting the first picture in our baby book, you are going to get the first picture _ever_ with baby Stark-Rogers.”

“Oh.” Gail looked so surprised, which made Steve feel smug, warm and giddy. They very rarely managed to get one up on the smart lady. She looked confused, unsure even. “Are you… are you sure? But you’re her dads.”

“And you’re her mother.” Steve smiled. “You’re family. To both of us, too.”

Gail smiled slowly, warm and pleased. “O-Ok then. Do… Do I look okay?”

“You two look absolutely perfect,” Tony said, sincerity so clear in his voice.

“Are you going by Mom, Mama, or Mommy?” Steve asked, twitching a little when he noticed a tiny hand and even tinier fingers moving. Beside him, Tony seemed to be just as twitchy and transfixed.

Gail laughed. “Well, I’m the only mother in this equation, so any nickname is fine.”

Steve chuckled. “Don’t look at us. We already ironed out the kinks. He’s Dada and I’m Poppa.”

Gail’s smile was so warm and approving. “They fit you both.”

“Ok then,” Tony said, voice and hand shaky. Steve had to hold him. “Mommy Gail and baby...” He took a deep breath. Gail had told them the baby’s name just before she was wheeled inside the delivery room, and he and Steve had been murmuring the name between them like a mantra for hours now.

“Mommy Gail and b-baby… Juliana Jae Stark-Rogers.”

Steve didn’t even bother hiding the fact that he was getting teary-eyed.

Tony powered through his own tears, his grin so wide as he focused his phone on the mother-daughter pair on the bed.

Gail brought Juliana (their daughter!) higher up her chest and smiled at the camera. As if sensing such a momentous occasion, Juliana opened her eyes.

“Say cheese!”

 

[Image 1: Gail is beaming at the camera with baby Juliana in her arms, her eyes open and mouth wide in a yawn.] 

[Image 2: Tony is cradling a sleepy Juliana to his chest with Steve’s arm wrapped around both of them and his other arm holding up the camera. Tony’s nose and cheeks are red and Steve still looked teary-eyed, but they’re beaming.]

 

 

 

 **[JULY - FIRST MONTH]**  

It was two days before Juliana’s first month in this good old earth when Steve thought about a good theme for Juliana’s baby photos. 

Steve had browsed through thousands and thousands of monthly baby photos. Most parents took pictures of the babies and added cute little captions on what milestones they had achieved over the past month or some cute little fact about them. They were all so adorable and while Steve wanted to make one for Juliana, it was kind of redundant and common. Also Tony, so pleased with just about every single thing his daughter did, had already made ‘JJ Stark-Rogers’ Calendar of Awesomeness,’ where he had JARVIS jot down almost every single milestone, reaction, and trivia about their daughter. Steve had made a habit of it too, asking JARVIS to take a picture or take note whenever Steve noticed something so compelling about his baby, never mind that his baby usually just slept, pooped, ate or stared at them, rinse and repeat.

And every night it made something warm grow inside Steve whenever he and Tony would curl up in bed, Juliana asleep on a nearby bassinet, with her holographic calendar projected over their heads, reading and looking at the pictures of just about every single wonderful thing their baby had done. There were stuff like: first day at the Avengers Tower, first time meeting the Avengers, first time sleeping in her bassinet, first time Julia touched Dada’s beard, first time Julia slept on Poppa’s chest, Poppa’s first drawing of Julia, Dada’s first selfie with Julia, among many, many others. Steve had actually heard Tony and JARVIS talking about giving primary user status to Juliana and about building a separate secure memory bank for all her files from now until when she grew up.

Anyway, out of all the things on Julia’s Calendar, one moment that Steve remembered with such fondness was the first time Julia met her brothers the day they took her home from the hospital.[1]

It was that memory that actually inspired the whole idea.

Even before, when Steve and Tony were all but strangers at each other's throats, Steve already Tony Stark was  _the_  name in technology. And later, after they almost lost New York and Steve and Tony began to build their friendship, Steve started to see that technology was more than just a means to an end to Tony. They called him a futurist for a reason, and while most people would just equate Tony’s tech to his genius, as the product of his mind and were mere inventions… Look at it this way: It was like Tony’s arc reactor. His tech, his inventions, his ideas, they kept him alive, kept him moving forward, kept him believing that there was more to do and that he could do it… even if he had to do it alone. Even without parsing through the minefield that was Tony’s childhood, Steve could understand that fact most especially whenever he looked at DUM-E, Tony’s pride and joy, his first robot baby, his eldest, his favorite, built when he was only seventeen years old and needed a friend more than most.

So honestly, there was no other choice for Steve.

“Y-You want to what?” Tony asked, eyes wide and almost dropping his tablet.

Steve just smiled and repeated himself patiently. “I said that for Julia’s first month for her book, we could take a photo of her with her brothers.”

Tony scoffed, affecting an air of incredulity. Yet Steve could see the shake in his shoulders. “Brothers? Um, cupcake, honey bunch, husband of mine, we only have one child, unless you’re hiding some tyke from me. And while I lived the fast and furious lifestyle in my youth, I have been intensely lucky enough not to sire any offspring.” He waved a hand at Steve. “Unless you’re referring to Barton and Barnes in all their childishness, then okay, yeah, we can call them Julia’s brothers.”

Steve crossed his arms. “Don’t be silly, Tony. Clint is Julia’s uncle and Bucky’s her godfather, you know that.” He shrugged. “I was talking about DUM-E, U, and Butterfingers. And also JARVIS, though that might be a bit difficult since JARVIS doesn’t have a physical form.”

Tony was silent, one hand holding his tablet with a white-knuckled grip. His eyes were wide and so disbelieving, as if any second Steve was going to take it back and laugh at him.

“Oh, Tony.” Steve swooped forward, folding his arms around his husband and pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

“Steve, what the hell are you talking about?” Tony asked, acquiescing to the kiss, if a bit shakily.

“When the bots first met Julia almost a month ago when we took her home, we already called them her brothers. I meant it then, I mean it now, and I will always, always believe it.” Steve smiled and pressed a kiss to his silly husband’s nose. “Those bots are your family, have been your family far longer than the Avengers, than me, hell, even Pepper and Rhodey. They’re your family and because of that they’re my family too, and Julia’s.”

There was a fine trembling in Tony’s form and he looked down, fingers of one hand hooking against the collar of Steve’s shirt. He was silent for a long while, but Steve was patient and pressed a kiss to his temple every once in a while.

“I… I guess that’s fine,” Tony finally murmured, still so disbelieving.

“Good.” Steve grinned. “Now, you need to get downstairs, clean up your workshop, and figure out how you want the bots to look and how JARVIS is going to be there. I’m going to look for a matching onesie for Julia. We can take the picture tomorrow and hang it up in the nursery for everyone to see in time for Julia’s first month.” He pressed a kiss to Tony’s lips and then patted him on the ass. “Go on.”

Tony was dazed and he nodded absently as he headed for the elevator.

Later that night, Tony finally got his groove back and expressed his appreciation for his husband’s idea in very creative, sweaty, wonderful ways.

 

[Video: Tony shouting at DUM-E to stop running around and around in excitement. Tony shouting at U when he bowled over the party hats. Tony shouting at Butterfingers to stop moving the podium around. In the background, the holographs were turning on and off.

Tony: “Stop playing with that JARVIS!”

Steve: “Tony, that’s not nice. He’s just trying to figure out which holographs to use.”

JARVIS: “You have allowed DUM-E and U to use their own props, Sir. I don’t see why I cannot also decide for my own.”

Tony: “For god’s– Just make sure it’s nothing top secret! And–and you can use the armor!”

Steve: “Oh, that would be wonderful, JARVIS. That’s a good idea to use to the Iron Man armor. While you ready that, I’ll go get Julia.”

JARVIS: “Thank you, Captain.”

Tony: “It was MY idea!”] 

 

[Image: In the middle is Juliana, dozing on her bassinet placed on a two-foot tall stand. She’s wearing a onesie that had colorful gears, gauges, and wires drawn on it. Her baby cap has a tiny antenna poking from the top. DUM-E is in the middle behind her, waving a fire extinguisher. U is holding up a video camera. Butterfingers is leaning down, one claw clamped around a corner of Juliana’s baby blanket. All three bots have a birthday party hat strapped on their claws. In the background are a series of holographs, including one of the Iron Man armor. Looking closely, one will be able to see the letters J-A-R-V-I-S highlighted among the visuals.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] You can read the story at "[Lovely Made From Love](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15546504)" which is the first story in the series.


	2. Second Month

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We have an appointment on Wednesday with a very important person,” Tony declared. “And by we, I mean Julia, and by appointment, I mean babysitting, and by VIP, I mean Pepper.”

**[AUGUST – SECOND MONTH]**

When one was married to a billionaire, things like laundry and folding clothes were taken care of by a staff – and no, Phil wasn’t their housekeeper, or JARVIS, or Pepper, though all three of them vetoed the tower’s _actual_ housekeeping staff. Steve liked doing chores though, so he always tried to carve out some mundane tasks for himself before the staff could get to them, like sweeping the rec room, cleaning the gym, or doing laundry. It wasn’t as if it was a hardship for him, and Clint and Tony both amassed enough messes to keep the staff busy, not to mention the added mess of gigantic proportions when Thor was in town, so Steve knew he was lessening their burden.

This week though their ninja staff managed to grab their hamper before Steve could get to it, but as per his request, he was the one putting away their things in their drawers. He could look the other way if Tony insisted on just letting somebody wash their underwear, but he wasn’t going to let them put their underwear away for him. Sometimes he even got Tony to help, though that wasn’t very often. The one time he left Tony to it, Tony just stuffed everything into a drawer without folding anything. So usually chores only worked if Steve was there to supervise Tony and if he remained stern about finishing the job and not let Tony _distract_ him.

Steve pulled out a pair of red briefs with gold trim and then hastily put it away, red staining his cheeks. Yeah, that one was particularly memorable.

There was a laugh from behind him, and Steve leveled a weak glare at his husband.

Tony just smacked him on the ass, placed a kiss on his cheek, and then threw himself on the bed, making a mess of all the folded underwear.

“Aww, Tony. I just finished folding those.” 

“Steve. Steeeeeve. Steven!”

“Yes, dear?” Steve started folding underwear again. Maybe if he hurried, he could get them in the drawer, and Tony wouldn’t have time to mess them up even more.

“We have an appointment on Wednesday with a very important person,” Tony declared. “And by we, I mean Julia, and by appointment, I mean babysitting, and by VIP, I mean Pepper.”

Steve slapped Tony lightly on the leg, because Tony was being ridiculous (as always) and he had kicked a few boxers and shirts to the ground because of his wiggling.

“Tony, you know how busy Pepper is. We can go out, but you don’t have to force her of all people to babysit. We can ask Phil or Nat instead, even Bucky.” He looked up in thought. “Or we can take her with us, but I really don’t want the paparazzi getting a picture of her.”

Tony raised a finger in the air. “First of all, Pep’s already sent out a strongly worded letter that I’m going to sue anyone who tries to take a picture of our kid, much less step within twenty feet of her. I was all for just making a live demonstration and taking a repulsor to a pap’s ass, but she vetoed that.”

“Thank god for Pepper,” Steve said.

Tony raised two fingers in the air. “And second, I’m not trying to foist our daughter on my CEO. I am telling you the truth. Pepper put it on my calendar, and yours. I checked.”

Steve was almost hit on the face when Tony held his phone in front of him. He leaned back and squinted at the screen. “Oh, so she did. Um, not that I don’t want Pepper to babysit, but why did she pencil that in?”

“I’m not sure, which is why you should go ahead, call her up, and ask her why.” Tony poked Steve on the sternum.

Steve moved back and started putting the underwear and shirts away. “Why don’t you ask her, Tony? You were the one who noticed it after all.” When he turned back, Tony was sporting a massive pout. The engineer held up a finger.

“One, because I have learned my lesson in questioning anything Pepper does, ever, in her life, in my life, and with my own company. If Pepper wants to do something, she’ll do it. She does it to my life, to my company, and now apparently she’ll do it to my baby too.”

Steve paused. “Well, that’s… um… Pepper can’t exactly… just take… someone else’s baby…?”

“Oh, but she will, and no one will stop her,” Tony scoffed. He raised two fingers. “Two, I have caused her enough pain, headaches, and stress over the past years, so honestly, if Pepper needs my baby to… I don’t know, unwind or something, then I can’t really contest that.”

Steve managed to put away the last of the shirts. He slid the drawer closed and turned to Tony. “So, if we want to know what Pepper is going to do to our baby, I’ve got to be the one to ask her.”

“Yes, my darling breadstick, because, and here comes point number three,” Tony held up three fingers, “Pepper is more likely to tell you the truth than tell me, because three point one, you’re Captain America. Three point two, you’re Steven Rogers. And three point three, you cannot lie to save yourself, you really can’t, peppermint.”

Steve frowned, sitting down beside him on the bed. “What are you talking about? I can so… I mean, people shouldn’t lie, but–”

“See there? See?” Tony poked him on the cheek. “That’s what I mean, watermelon. I mean, you can lie about some things maybe, like in front of SHIELD or when duping bad guys, but about the important things? Like whose turn is it to change Julia’s diapers, or who broke the microwave, or who ate the last of the ice cream, or when you tell me that no, you don’t want to get a blowjob in between SHIELD meetings–”

“Tony!” Steve ducked his head, ears flushing. He was glad Julia was with Phil right now.

Tony ignored him. “You blush and stutter and then you fold faster than Clint when faced in front of anything bite-sized and edible or Thor when faced with Pop Tarts and Pop Rocks candy, which we all know is as fast as hell. All of which culminates to the point that Pepper wouldn’t want to worry _you_ about what she’s going to do and where she’s going to take _your_ baby. If Pepper was taking _my_ baby somewhere, it would most likely be for something good and because I deserve it.”

“But your kid and my kid are one and the same.” That made a smile appear on Steve’s face. That was a good thought, a good thing, the best thing, to have a child with the love of his life.

“That is… that is so true,” Tony said slowly, the same silly smile blooming across his face. He pressed a palm against Steve’s chest and pushed him back on the bed before sprawling over him. “Because you met me, dated me, married me, then had a baby with me.” Tony lied down on his chest, chin on his sternum. “Hmm. I guess for all your perfection, it was statistically likely you’d hit a snag somewhere.”

“Not a snag,” Steve said, leaning up to kiss Tony. “Just good taste.”

“You’re a sap,” Tony murmured against his lips.

Steve poked him on the side, making Tony yelp against his mouth. He knew all of this was just a sign that Tony was worried about Julia, but probably didn’t want to sound like he didn’t trust Pepper.

“Let’s call Pepper.” Steve plucked Tony’s phone from where it fell on the bed.

“No, no, no, no. Not us. Just you.” Tony tried to grab his phone, which was really pretty unfair for him considering how much stronger Steve was physically. But Steve knew how scrappy and devious his husband could be.

Steve managed to press the Call button on Pepper’s name, before tossing it farther up the bed. He pinned Tony between his legs, but Tony was wiggling around in a way that made Steve suddenly realize this was a bad idea. It seemed Tony had the same thought, because he grinned widely, deliberately slid down Steve’s body and rolled his hips just so.

“To- gurk!” Steve almost swallowed his tongue. Okay, bad idea, bad idea. He shouldn’t have. “Tony, stop it!”

“Sir, Captain, Miss Potts is on the line,” JARVIS said, sounding a little amused.

Steve gave Tony a warning look and waved a hand.

_“Anthony Edward Stark, this phone call better be because you finally finished that prototype you promised me. I know you’re a Dad now and congratulations, but you told me last week you’d make time for it.”_

“Pepper? Pepper, it’s Steve.” Steve glared again at Tony, who was pushing at Steve’s legs and rearranging them to who knows what.

_“Steve?”_ Her former irate tone turned suspicious. _“What did Tony do this time?”_

Tony looked so slighted at that Steve had to stifle a chuckle. He motioned for Tony to keep quiet.

“Oh, he’s probably done something, like always, but that’s not why I was calling. I was looking at the calendar on Tony’s phone and noticed you had an appointment with Julia. I was just wondering what that was for.”

_“Oh, that.”_ Pepper didn’t seem surprised at being called out. _“Yes, I put it on Tony’s schedule. He probably won’t look at it–”_

“But I did,” Tony whispered to Steve fiercely. Steve shushed him.

Thankfully Pepper didn’t hear him. “ _–so I put it in yours too, just in case._ ”

“I see. Why the appointment though?” Steve tugged Tony to lie down on his chest. Tony did so, still with that petulant pout. Steve ran his fingers through his curly, messy hair, so much like Julia’s own.

_“Thought I’d give you new fathers a break and get some time in with my goddaughter. Plus, it has the added advantage of giving Tony a day to get some stuff done for SI that really can’t wait. And no, before you ask, it’ll only take a few hours so you two won’t have to worry and you’ll still have time do things together that I don’t want to know about.”_

Steve flushed and Tony snickered against his chest. Steve was tempted to pinch him, but it would just draw Pepper’s attention.

_“Did you hear that, Tony? I really, really, really don’t want to know. Ever. No matter how many times you try.”_

“Hey!” Tony’s head shot up and he glared at the ceiling. “How’d you know I was here?”

Steve gave in to the urge to pinch Tony’s hip. “The better question is: what have you been telling her?”

_“Tony, I know what you sound like when you’re trying to be silent, which is not silent at all. Really. And Steve, honey, you don’t want to know.”_

Steve groaned. Aww, hell.

“Where are you taking her?” Tony asked. “And while you may be her fairy godmother, you are not allowed to kidnap my baby.”

_“Stop calling me her fairy godmother.”_ Pepper sighed. _“And I’m not taking her anywhere except my office and maybe out to lunch with Happy and me._ ”

“Oh, well if that’s the case, I don’t mind giving Julia some time with her Auntie Pepper,” Steve said.

Tony crossed his arms over his chest with a huff. “Pep, just a reminder, my baby is barely two months old and far too young to be put in heels or taught how to take over the world.”

Pepper snorted. _“Don’t be silly Tony. We’ll start when she’s three. Now get those prototypes done or else.”_

The call immediately cut off.

Tony glared at the ceiling. “Rude. My CEO is rude.”

Steve chuckled. “You only have yourself to blame, dear.”

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and it flew open without a word. Phil walked in, cradling their drooling newborn, who was looking adorable in an orange onesie and a green cap, like a little pumpkin.

Phil just raised a judgmental eyebrow at them. “My one hour is up. Here is your child.”

Steve suddenly realized the compromising position they’re in. “Phil–”

“Save it.” Phil walked over and handed Juliana to Tony. “I’ve seen worse and Juliana’s not old enough to focus past the edge of her nose. Your virtues – or lack thereof – are safe.”

“I feel like I should be offended, but I’m not,” Tony piped up, smiling at Juliana. “You can all eat your hearts out. I’m the one banging Captain America.”

Steve groaned. “Tony don’t say that in front of the baby, and don’t call it banging. We’re married.”

“Still. Everyone should now,” Tony said haughtily. He laid Juliana down on Steve’s tummy. “Here you go, my love. Go wrestle your Pops into submission. Go! Go!”

Steve smiled, reaching a hand up to secure the flailing Juliana. He turned to Phil. “Thanks for helping us out, Phil.”

Phil nodded and there was that small quirk to his lips that said he definitely didn’t mind. He waved a hand over his should and left them to it.

 

 

 

Wednesday rolled around and Happy walked in at the middle of their Avengers-sized breakfast with Juliana in the midst of her Avengers-sized tantrum.

Steve nodded Happy over to sit at the island with everyone while he paced and rocked Julia back and forth to calm her. She had been feeling finicky most of the night and all of the morning and nothing they did would soothe her. Tony was nursing a cup of coffee, watching them both and looking sulky and tired. He had taken over most of the night shift wrangling and Steve knew his husband was probably cranky and emotionally fraught right now. Tony absolutely hated it when Juliana cared. So despite his supersoldier ears ringing, Steve stepped up to the plate this morning to give his husband a break.

Clint had only one hearing aid on, wincing at every scream, and he looked like he wanted to cry himself. Bucky was gritting his teeth and stabbing his fork so hard he was liable to break the plate, maybe even the countertop. Natasha kept drumming her fingers on the table. Phil had more control and looked unbothered, but Steve had noticed he had been on the same page on his paperwork for near twenty minutes now.

Bruce was surprisingly a lot calmer than they expected. He had admitted that Juliana’s cry was really quite disconcerting, but he wasn’t unbothered mainly because the scientific part of his mind understood that babies cried all the time. And since she was already crying, the Other Guy would get antsier leaving her without seeing her calm down.

“Oh, Julia, it’s okay,” Steve shushed her, frowning at her red face and angry demeanour.

Happy waved away the chair Phil pointed at. “Thanks, but Pep and I grabbed breakfast on the way. I’m actually just here to pick up Julia.” He winced when Julia let out another cry. “That doesn’t sound good though. What’s up with the little darling?”

“She’s having another one of her crazy episodes,” Tony mumbled, glaring at his coffee.

“Don’t call your baby crazy, Tony, for god’s sake,” Phil sighed. “And how many times do we have to tell you - it's just colic.”

“Hey, I don’t blame Julia. Being a baby is hard,” Clint spoke up. “Everything is just so big and awful and terrible for someone so tiny and fragile.”

Bucky hummed under his breath. “Ah, I get it. Guess that’s why you and Tony can relate.”

“Hey! / Natasha’s smaller!” Clint and Tony glared at Bucky, but the former immediately turned to the latter, hissing, “Tony, the hell?”

Natasha raised an eyebrow at Tony. “I’ll give you a pass this time, Tony, considering you’re probably far too sleep-deprived to have thought that comment through.”

“What Clint said was actually quite accurate,” Bruce commented. “Newborns have yet to build on their perspective of the world, so even the littlest thing has to be quite overwhelming and confusing for them, and the only means they have by which to express themselves is to cry. There’s no science to figuring out their crying. It could literally be about anything.”

Happy chuckled. “Well, I don’t know much about science, but I’ve got nieces and nephews of my own. Sometimes they just need a bit of novelty and a new face doting on them.”

He walked over and Steve felt just a tad guilty at how hastily he handed his baby over, but he knew Juliana was in good hands. Happy had taken care of Tony for years, especially during his… er, tumultuous bachelorhood, and even Steve could admit that his husband was occasionally more demanding than even a newborn.

Happy smiled, rocking her. “Hey there, pretty girl. What’s wrong? Having a bad day already?”

Juliana’s cries slowly tapered in the face of her new audience. She flailed a little, still red-faced and teary. Happy kept on rocking her and talking to her, and Steve was definitely not exaggerating when all the Avengers let out a collective sigh when Juliana finally quieted in Happy’s arms.

“Oh hey! That’s Reason #34 for crying: I hate my parents’ faces!” Tony grinned madly. “JARVIS, add that to the list!”

“Yes, sir,” JARVIS replied.

“Can’t blame her. You look like a horror show,” Clint said, poking Tony on the forehead. Far too drowsy, Tony lolled back, but was saved from falling over thanks to Bruce tugging him forward.

That was Steve’s cue. One of the things he and Tony had talked about regarding adopting a newborn was the mutual understanding that babies cried and even if they both hated it and loved her more than anything else in the world, sometimes it really wasn’t their fault. Hearing Bruce and Clint explain probably helped, but it was definitely time to bundle his husband away. A sleepy Tony was a good thing though. It made him more agreeable to Juliana being with Pepper and Happy for the day if he was going to be sleeping through most of it.

“Julia hasn’t eaten yet, because she was crying hard enough to just spill milk everywhere, but we have bottles ready,” Steve said. He motioned to the diaper bag already waiting on the coffee table. “She takes a nap four or five times a day, six if she’s feeling up to it, and drinks about seven bottles depending on how many times she decides she wants a nap more than her bottle. We have extra bottles, diapers, and clothes in her bag. She doesn’t like bright lights and loud sounds and the sound of frogs, and don’t…”

Happy nodded, smiling as he listened patiently.

“Aaaand Tony already emailed you the list, okay, got it.” Steve sighed.

“More like a PowerPoint presentation, complete with graphs,” Happy shrugged, rocking Juliana along with it. She was blessedly soothed now though, as per Reason #34.

“Graphs are the boooomb,” Tony slurred.

“Tony, don’t drown in your coffee,” Phil said. “The paperwork will be horrific.”

“No, no, go do it,” Bucky smirked. “It’ll be hilarious.”

Steve sighed. “Thanks, Happy. Say thanks to Pepper for us.” He leaned down to kiss Juliana’s head. “Be good, darling. Dada and Poppa miss you already.”

“See you later, boss,” Happy called out, baby and bag on hand and Steve felt his heart drop down to his knees. But he trusted Pepper and Happy and he knew Juliana was in safe hands.

“Love youuuuu…” Tony called out, waving a hand.

“Love you too, boss,” Happy said, grinning. “We’ll send pictures and updates.” And just like that, the elevator doors closed, leaving Steve bereft of his child. He squared his shoulders and turned to his husband, who was indeed close to face planting on his coffee cup as Natasha took photos.

“Come on, Tony. Bed time for you,” Steve said. Maybe he should take a nap too. He missed his baby already.

 

 

 

The day after Pepper and Happy babysat Juliana, Pepper found them in Steve’s studio. Steve was busy with a charcoal drawing of Julia that he wanted to give to Gail, while Tony was reclined on the couch with Julia on his chest. He was on his phone and was near dozing. Steve hoped he would fall asleep. Tony’s sleeping habits had been bad enough before the baby came and Julia’s erratic schedule and colic weren’t helping curb the genius’s belief that sleep was something he could out-stubborn, so Steve wanted them both to get as much sleep as they could.

And they looked cute together, with their matching curly brown hair, which always made Steve reach for his phone or his sketchbook.

There was a knock on the door and Pepper poked her head in, smiling.

“Knock, knock.” She smiled and then lowered her voice at the sight on the couch. “Oh, I didn’t know the little darling was asleep.”

Steve smiled. “She has a favorite napping spot now, and that’s on Dada or Poppa’s chest. Two minutes in and she was out like a light. Come in.” He grabbed a clean rag and tried wiping as much charcoal from his fingers.

“We want to avoid as much of her crazy episodes as possible.” Tony waved a hand, sleep still clinging around the edges. “Need anything, Pep? Anything wrong with the prototypes?”

Pepper walked in, toting a slim package. She sat down on a loveseat across from Tony. “They’re all fine. The engineers are having fun with them and when they inevitably break it, you can storm down there and shout at them for being idiots.”

“Oh, good. That’s one of my favorite things to do.” Tony grinned dopily. “So, are you here to kidnap my baby again? If you wake her up, she’ll scream at you, or who knows, maybe Reason #34 applies to you too.”

Pepper shook her head. “No. I’m just dropping this off.” She waved the package. It was rectangular and wrapped in special brown paper with green and black twine.

Steve walked over so Tony didn’t have to sit up. He took it with a murmur of thanks and sat by Tony’s hip as he opened it. Steve tugged the twine away and unwrapped the package. Once he saw the present, he paused, breath catching in his throat.

“What s’it?” Tony asked, blinking slowly.

Steve held it up for Tony to see.

Once he saw it, Tony grinned, wobbly and sweet. “I told you so. Told you Hap and Pep are using our kid for a trial run.” Pepper rolled her eyes at that, smiling.

“This is beautiful, Pepper,” Steve said. “Then yesterday…”

Pepper winked. “We detoured over to a baby-friendly studio before lunch.”

Steve had to resist stroking a finger over the photo in his lap or else get charcoal on the frame. It was of Pepper, Happy, and Juliana and Steve knew exactly what it was for. He held it out to Tony, who took it and smiled, one hand slowly rubbing Juliana’s back. Steve placed a hand on Tony’s hip.

“Tony is my family, certainly much more than my own family.” Pepper said, voice soft and smiling fondly at them. “Then Rhodey came, and Happy, and the Avengers blew up New York. Then the two of you started dating…”

Tony tilted his head towards her. “Are you going to cry? You know I don’t do well when you cry, even if you’re being sappy and saying mushy, lovely stuff. If you cry, I’m going to cry, then Julia’s going to wake up and cry. It’s not going to be good for Steve’s stress levels.”

Pepper scoffed, though her eyes looked a little shiny. “I’m not going to cry. What I mean is…” she cleared her throat. “You both have a daughter now and honestly, I never thought that would happen, at least… legitimately or planned or without lawsuits and screaming and scandals happening. But you have a daughter now and I’m confident enough to say I’m family–”

“Which you are, of course you are,” Steve insisted.

Pepper smiled a bit bashfully, a rare sight for her. “So I thought I wanted something hanging up on that photo wall of yours in the nursery. I sent JARVIS copies and took the liberty of having this one framed the same way you framed the ones already in Julia’s room. You’re welcome.” She squared her shoulders, as if she was thinking they’d decline. As if they would.

Steve had always thought that anybody would be lucky to have Pepper in their corner and Tony had never been shy in admitting that Pepper was a godsend and that he would literally fall apart without her. Steve had felt a similar gratitude when he befriended Pepper – and yeah, maybe getting into her good graces was part of his attempt to woo Tony – because her support, understanding and the way she displayed such kindness and regard helped soothe Steve in the big, bad, shiny modern world.

She was more than Tony’s family. She had also become Steve’s. And god knew she’d do anything for Julia too.

“It’s beautiful, Pepper. We’ll definitely hang this up. I’ll do it tonight,” Steve promised.

Tony looked at the photo and a smile bloomed on his face, warm and content. “Yeah, it’s… it’s a beauty. You have good taste as always, Miss Potts.”

“Of course I do.” Pepper cleared her throat and stood up, straightening her skirt. “Will that be all then, Mister Stark?”

Tony turned to her with a wink. “That will be all, Miss Potts. Thank you.”

 

[Image 1: It’s a black and white photo with the only splash of color being Pepper’s long, red hair. Pepper and Happy are facing one another. Happy is laughing with his arms around Pepper, who is smiling brightly. Juliana is curled up in her arms between them, giggling and the fingers of one hand are wrapped around a long lock of red hair.] 


	3. Third Month

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “By the way,” Tony snapped his fingers as he remembered something, “It’s your turn.”
> 
> “My turn to what?” he asked. Steve wiped Juliana’s chin with a bib. Oh, but they had a leaky baby in their hands. 
> 
> Tony wiped away the crumbs from his beard. “Two months ago I got the bots ready. Last month, Pepper got everything ready. It’s your turn, muffin. Go and figure out what you want with the other nonagenarian.”

**[SEPTEMBER - THIRD MONTH]**

As Juliana’s third month dawned, Steve and Tony were relieved that she started sleeping just a little longer through the night. It was still a bit touch and go on just what time Juliana wanted to sleep, but she slept somewhere between five and seven hours, which was certainly a lot more than her parents usually got considering Tony’s habit of not-sleeping and Steve not needing as much sleep. They were slowly trying to get her into a set sleep schedule, and while they weren’t always successful, they were trying.

(Steve was being especially patient with it. Once Julia settled into a sleep schedule, he could much more easily convince Tony to do the same.)

They were having a family day out in the park, which was rare since Steve and Tony knew to be careful with reporters and fans hovering and wanting to take pictures of their girl. Nobody’s gotten a clear image _yet_ , and, as Tony mentioned, he and Pepper had made enough noise that he would sue anybody who tried to get close enough to try. Steve had never been a fan of making grand announcements or press releases, but he knew he couldn’t just leave it all to Tony. So he had also made it clear that he Strongly Disapproved of children being tailed by the media, especially his own.

So for now, people were as tame as they were going to get. Steve had noticed a lot of cellphones and cameras trained their way and a lot of whispering and pointing, but no one was walking up to them and that was good enough for him. The only one who got close enough were a young couple, two young women who passed them by, one of whom was expecting, who told them they were fans of the Avengers and wished them good luck. They didn’t even try to peek at Julia, just smiled at the baby carrier strapped to Steve’s chest.

It was a sunny day in good old New York and Steve took a deep breath of fresh air. He had decided against going on his usual run today to invite Tony and Julia out for the morning. Every day they took Julia out on the balcony on one of the private lower floors for some sun and fresh air, but there was no substitute for Mother Nature.

“There you go, my love,” Tony cooed as he settled Julia on a nursing pillow in the space between them. The grass was soft under the blanket and while the weather was pleasantly sunny, they were settled under a tree to give Julia some shade.

Julia cooed at the view of the trees and the sky overhead, hands and feet waving and drooling a little. She was in a white dress with flowers embroidered on the bottom and yellow socks with a matching yellow flower headband. She was so adorable and Steve didn’t even bother stopping Tony from taking pictures of her. They were gifts from Sam Wilson, a nice guy from the VA Steve met a few weeks ago.

“We’ll have to give you a bit of tummy time later, okay?” Tony said, letting their daughter catch his forefinger in one tiny palm and wiping her face with a bib with his other hand. “I know you hate it, but it’s good for your back and neck and sometimes we gotta do what we gotta do, kiddo.”

Steve smiled, warmed by the display. He found Tony incredibly gorgeous most days, even when he had bags under his eyes from pulling an all-nighter and had grease on his face and was incredibly cranky, but he was never more attractive to Steve when he was doting on their daughter. Like almost everything, even fatherhood suited Tony to a tee, and Steve felt fortunate that he got to share that with the man he loved.

“I can feel the sap you’re broadcasting our way, Rogers,” Tony said teasingly, glancing at him.

“Can’t help it.” Steve smiled. “You’re so good with her.”

Tony snorted, and before he could say something self-deprecating, Steve leaned over and kissed him on the mouth. Oh, but Tony tried, he did, the stubborn man murmuring something against Steve’s lips. He relented eventually and kissed back lazily.

Steve leaned back and smiled as Tony licked his lips, a soft warm blush rising on his cheeks. Giving his husband time to recover, Steve leaned down towards their princess for a kiss, but she was far too busy valiantly trying fitting her fist in her mouth and getting drool everywhere.

Steve stroked a hand over Juliana’s head. Her wild, untameable curls were getting longer by the day, so much like Tony’s own disheveled locks.

Tony got his groove soon enough and leaned over to the bags to the side. They brought two, Julia’s diaper bag which was apple green with the letters JJSR stamped on it, and a matching blue one with SGSR on the side. Tony had one in red with the letters TONY in gold. As per their agreement – and to prevent accidents from happening again, because Steve really didn’t want a repeat of Pepper complaining that Tony brought diapers and baby formula to a meeting with an important foreign investor – whoever packed their stuff packed it in their own bags.

(Tony added a few diaper bags to the baby line Stark Industries was planning to release. Steve saw there were even a few Avengers-themed ones, but none looked anything like their customized family set, so that was good.)

Tony pulled out everything Steve packed, some sandwiches, a container of sliced fruits, some of the leftover lemon bars Bucky made, a thermos of coffee, and a few water bottles. He set them out between them and Steve snagged a sandwich, while Tony started work on the berries and sliced bananas.

Tony had a really, really sweet tooth. It was one of Pepper and Rhodey’s tried-and-true methods to get Tony to sit still or for suitors to butter him up and win his favor. Steve had been steering it into healthier stuff the past months, especially as it was bad enough that the other occupants of the Tower were awful enablers (see: Clint, Thor, Bucky, Darcy, and surprisingly Phil).

Steve looked down at his quiet daughter, smiling down at her and rubbing gentle fingers through her hair and her headband. They already fed Juliana before leaving the tower, so she’s fine munching on her own fingers for a while.

He chatted with his husband, about plans to take Juliana to visit Gail, about Stark Industries, SHIELD, and when their last day of leave was. Ever since they became fathers, he and Tony had taken a (conditional) paternity leave from SHIELD and the Avengers. Thanks to Phil’s arrangements with Director Fury, SHIELD had been gracious enough to allow Steve as much time off as he wanted and to call on him only for the most extreme emergencies or missions. Stark Industries was flexible enough thanks to Pepper, so Tony also had time off as long as he remained in contact.

Steve almost didn’t want them to go back to work. He loved being an Avenger, of course, but he loved being Julia’s Poppa and Tony’s husband and spending time with his little family. Villainy waited for no one though. They’d been lucky so far and only a handful of missions had been handed out the past few weeks, usually divided between the others. No doubt something big was going to happen soon. It always did.

For now, Steve was thankful and content.

“By the way,” Tony snapped his fingers as he remembered something, “It’s your turn.”

“My turn to what?” he asked. Steve wiped Juliana’s chin with a bib. Oh, but they had a leaky baby in their hands.

Tony wiped away the crumbs from his beard. “Two months ago I got the bots ready. Last month, Pepper got everything ready. It’s your turn, muffin. Go and figure out what you want with the other nonagenarian.”

It took Steve a while to figure out what he meant. To be fair though, he was making a mental note to ask their paediatrician, Dr. Pius, if maybe Juliana was teething.

“The other… you mean Bucky?”

“Yep.” Tony took a swig of coffee. He looked at Steve’s confused face. “Cheesecake, you’re a hell of a lot smarter than the blond hair clichés.”

“If you noticed, I was busy with our baby.” Steve flicked him lightly on the shoulder at that. “And I’m just processing it. You mean you want Bucky for Julia’s third month baby photo?”

Tony scoffed, all shifty-eyed, which Steve knew was a sign of an upcoming deflection if he ever saw one. “Um, I just said that, didn’t I? Is your hearing going? Am I going to have to pull out the old man jokes on y–”

Steve shrugged. “I just thought Rhodey was going to follow after Pepper.”

Tony was quiet, busy munching on sandwiches to avoid talking. Steve usually appreciated that method of deflection. Anything that made Tony eat was a plus in his book, but he wasn’t getting away this time.

“Tony…”

Tony rolled his eyes. “I just said it was going to be Barnes, so there. And besides, honey bear still has those top secret missions he thinks I don’t know about, so we can get Robocop in front of the camera instead. Win-win! Rhodey’ll understand why he’s relegated to fourth. It’s his fault anyway. I mean, honestly, he got all of Julia’s emails and if he wanted to be on the roster, he’d make the time.” He then went on a somewhat unintelligible rant about some mission Rhodey was in.

Steve let him go on for a while before leaning over to place his palm over Tony’s mouth. “You mean Rhodey knows.”

Steve waited until Tony murmured something under his palm. He leaned away and rubbed Tony’s cheek with a thumb.

Tony looked down, busying himself with Julia. He kissed her chubby cheek and slowly eased her on her tummy on the nursing pillow, straightening her dress. She made a displeased noise. She hated tummy time, but she wasn’t crying yet, which was a good sign.

“I said Barnes is your family. You…” Tony heaved a sigh as if he was doing something so incredibly terrible or annoying, but it was obviously all for show going by the light flush on his cheeks. “The bots are our family, okay, I get that. But Pepper and Happy are my family from before you and I even met. Barnes is your best friend and your family from back then and I want your family to be a part of it. I mean, yeah we talked about how we’re going to invite all the Avengers, but I think… you know, your family should get first dibs too.”

Something inside Steve tightened with so much love and affection for this man. He cleared his throat. If he made a big deal of this – because it was a really huge, really thoughtful deal – Tony was bound to flee.

“And you told Rhodey?” he asked.

Tony shrugged, waving his phone in front of Julia so she stopped concentrating on tummy time. “Yeah, Rhodey knows. He doesn’t mind. He gets it.”

Steve reached over, placing a hand on the back of Tony’s neck. Sometimes Tony surprised him, not because he didn’t think his husband was capable of bouts of thoughtfulness and kindness. He knew more than most how incredibly warm, kind, and generous Tony could be. Steve was just constantly surprised at the world in general, that Fate brought him this man and that Steve was the lucky fella who earned his love.

“Thank you. I know Bucky will love it, Tony, even if he’ll try to hide it.” He rubbed the shell of Tony’s ear. “Thank you. I love you.”

Tony met his eye and then glanced away. “I just invited your best friend. Why you getting so sappy? Jeez.” The fingers of one hand wrapped around Steve’s wrist. “…Love you too.”

Julia let out a cry and Tony lied down in front of her to distract her, cooing at her and telling her that tummy time sucked but it was good for her and later she could go tummy time on Poppa’s chest because Poppa’s chest was big and broad and warm and good for tummy times.

Steve watched them both, his husband and daughter, and felt like the luckiest man in the world.

 

 

 

And just to make it clear to everyone – to Tony that his gesture was appreciated and to Bucky that the gesture was genuine – Steve invited Bucky to be part of Juliana’s photo book during breakfast the next day, where it was just Steve, who was feeding Juliana; Tony, who was half-awake over his plate of pancakes; and Bucky, who had his own plate and was watching Juliana demolish her first bottle of the day.

Bucky jerked, wide-eyed, almost sending his plate of pancakes flying, but he held it down fast. Of course he did because, not to toot his own horn or anything, Steve knew he made damn good pancakes.

“You what?” Bucky asked.

Steve wiped some spilled milk from Juliana’s chin as he spoke. “You know that monthly photo book we’ve been making for Julia? We want you to take a photo with her for her third month.”

“Me?” Bucky looked so gobsmacked Steve had to bite down the urge to smile.

“Yep, it was Tony’s idea.”

Tony hid behind his pancake, stuffing a large one in his mouth and mumbling nonsensically. He was allergic to feelings on most occasions, but especially during mornings.

“We would love it, and we know Julia would love to have a picture with her godfather,” Steve added.

As with any mention of being godfather to their child, Bucky ducked his head, fingers of his metal hand twitching, but he couldn’t hide that pleased look from Steve’s sharp eyes.

Juliana finally finished her bottle, letting the nipple pop out of her mouth. She waved her fists demandingly.

“All done, my darling?” Steve smiled. “That’s a good girl.” He swung her up against the bib on his shoulder and patted her on the back as he walked back and forth, trying to get her to burp. She spat on the bib with a gurgle and after cleaning her up, she was back to being smiley and ready to face the day.

“There you are, pretty girl.” He walked over to Bucky. “Now, here.”

Bucky held her in his arms on instinct, swiftly switching her to his flesh and blood arm instead of the cool metal one. Steve could remember how stiff and scared Bucky was the first time Steve made him carry her, protesting that his metal arm was cold and could hurt her or pinch her. Now it was like second nature.

Juliana let out a giggle and cooed up at Bucky, waving a hand, probably curious about his long hair or his chin or some other odd thing babies fixate on.

Steve nodded, satisfied as baby and Bucky regarded one another. “I still need to feed Tony–”

“I am not a child, Steven.” Tony snorted, and then promptly dropped a piece of syrup-soaked pancake on his shirt. “Oh, fu– fiddlesticks.”

Steve handed Tony a cloth and turned back to Bucky. “Anyway, I still need to feed Tony and get him into the shower and a suit for his meeting.” He ignored Tony’s outraged noises. “You go play with your goddaughter. She has her milk, and her blanket and toys are in the living room. Go.” Steve shooed him off.

“Fine. You’re such a nag, Stevie.” Bucky inhaled his remaining pancake and then downed a glass of water. “We doing tummy time?”

Steve winced. Juliana’s disdain for tummy time was well-known around the Tower.

“Yeah, make sure she gets some,” Steve said. “But she likes being held so if you put her on your stomach or chest, she’s less likely to complain.”

Bucky nodded. “Hey, zvonochek, what do you want to play with today?” He brought the baby away.

“No knives, Barnes,” Tony called out, slurred really.

Bucky didn’t even acknowledge that, but Steve had the utmost confidence Bucky would be careful.

“It’ll be fine, darling.” Steve kissed his grumpy husband on the forehead. “And Bucky is never going to pose for a photo. So we’re going with candids. Let them play, JARVIS will take a few shots or videos, I’ll see if I can take a good one of them, and then we’ll use that for the photo.”

Tony seemed fine with that, or he was sleeping with his eyes awake… again.

Steve sighed and led his husband to the shower. He really needed to get Julia on a sleep schedule. That was the only way Tony was going to do the same.

 

 

 

Two days later, Steve and Juliana knocked on Bucky’s bedroom door. Bucky opened the door, messy-haired, shirtless, barefooted, and grumpy.

“Whatzit?” Bucky groaned, hair in disarray and a scowl on his face. “It’s way too effing early, punk. Whatchu want?”

“Thank you for self-censoring yourself at least,” Steve said. He then held out Juliana, who was looking quite perky and was pawing at the edge of the picture frame Steve gave her with her mitten-clad palms.

Bucky took her on automatic, never one to resist carrying his godchild. He cradled her with his flesh and blood arm and rubbed at his face with the other. He looked down at Juliana.

“What do you have there, zvonochek?” Bucky tugged the frame from Juliana’s hand. “What’s this?”

“Your third month picture with Julia for her baby book,” Steve said. “We know you’re not much for posing, so we took a few candids and chose the best one.”

That seemed to wake Bucky right up. He looked at the frame in his hand. In his arms, Juliana let out a giggle, cheek pressed to Bucky’s chest. He was probably still warm from sleep. Bucky’s eyes widened slowly as he looked at the picture.

Steve patted Bucky’s shoulder. “Breakfast is in fifteen, okay? Don’t be late or else Julia will get fussy.”

“Yeah, whatever, punk,” came the soft, muffled reply. Bucky turned back to his room, already cooing down at the little sunshine in his arms, so gentle and sweet in a way he himself probably never thought he could be again.

Steve smiled. “Ring them down later, would you JARVIS?”

“Of course, Captain,” came the prompt reply.

Steve grinned and walked away, whistling. Today was going to be a good day.

 

[Image: Bucky is leaning back on the couch, his feet propped up to cage Juliana against his chest. Juliana is on her tummy on top of his chest, her tiny palm on Bucky’s cheek. Bucky’s metal arm is curled protectively under Juliana’s butt and the other is on her back. Juliana is laughing and Bucky is smiling back at her.]


	4. Fourth Month

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> War Machine looked around, repulsors primed. “I’m here! What’s the emergency! What do you need?”
> 
> There was a pause and Steve immediately turned to his husband. “Tony! You told Rhodey there was an emergency?”
> 
> “I had to,” Tony protested. “How else was he going to get out of the evil clutches of the Air Force?”

**[OCTOBER – FOURTH MONTH]**

It was a rather overcast Thursday afternoon and the Avengers were having a rare downtime in the communal living room. Steve was on the couch sketching while Tony was curled up with his head on Steve’s lap, reading on his tablet. Juliana was on her favorite blue blanket, sitting between Clint’s legs. She had recently discovered her toes and was either tickling herself or bringing her toes to her mouth. Natasha was taking pictures of them, book forgotten on her lap, and subtly convincing Clint to see if he could fit his toes in his mouth like Juliana. Bucky was snoring up a storm on the other couch. Bruce and Thor, who was back from New Mexico, were in the kitchen making lunch because it was their turn today.

(And they were trying to keep Thor distracted. Jane and Darcy couldn’t make the trip to New York this week and Thor had been feeling down in the dumps.)

Steve chuckled as he watched Julia tumble backwards against Clint’s leg, catching her toes in her mouth and gumming them. Clint chuckled and tugged them away.

Clint ran a hand through her curly locks. “Juju-bean is the most adorable baby in the world. I mean, I’ve seen a few babies and I guess all babies are probably adorable by default, but she is something else. She’s like adorableness times infinity.”

Tony pointed a finger at him, eyes not leaving his tablet. “Your math is atrocious as always, Barton, but I’ll let it pass because it’s also a universal truth: My baby is fucking adorable.”

Steve poked Tony’s forehead with the eraser end of his pencil. “Stop cursing.”

Natasha hummed in agreement, tilting her head to look at Julia. “Her blue eyes are starting to show. I know Gail is the mother, but Yulia looks like quite the combination of Tony and Steve.”

“I beg to differ,” Clint scoffed. “Juju-bean is the cutest, which is probably something she got from Gail because there’s nothing at all cute about old man Stark and older man Rogers.”

Tony raised a finger at Clint. Steve batted at his hand and he changed it to the fourth finger instead. “Do go on, Barton. I’ve been looking for an excuse not to upgrade your gear.”

Their peace and quiet was broken when a proximity alert appeared on the TV, sending everyone into motion. Clint was crouching on nimble feet in an instant, a squirming Juliana held protectively to his chest. Natasha was already heading for the windows, gun in hand, and Thor and Bruce came barreling in from the kitchen with messy aprons.

Bucky jolted up, plucking a gun from thin air and pointing it at the window. “Whozit? Whazit? I’ll shoo’em.”

Steve tried to push Tony off his lap. “JARVIS, what’s happening outside?”

“Oh, calm down,” Tony called out above the din. “It’s just a visitor.” He checked his watch. “And he’s early.”

“Who?” Steve asked. “Who is it, Tony? JARVIS?”

“It is Colonel James Rhodes, Captain,” JARVIS answered, bringing up the image of War Machine.

“Is he supposed to be here?” Clint asked. Juliana let out a cry and Clint rocked her, shushing her gently.

“You called him, Tony? What for?” Steve asked, as his husband stood up languidly from the couch.

“Rhodey’s not taking off the armor,” Natasha said, gun still at the ready.

Steve looked up and it was true. War Machine was bypassing the landing deck and was headed straight for the doorway.

“JARVIS, open the door,” Tony said. “We don’t want Rhodey breaking the glass.”

The door slid open just as War Machine flew in, landing in the middle of the living room with a thump.

“What’s up, coconut?” Tony raised a hand to his best friend.

“Colonel, is there something you need?” Steve asked, one hand on his phone and ready to call SHIELD.

War Machine looked around, repulsors primed. “I’m here! What’s the emergency! What do you need?”

There was a pause and Steve immediately turned to his husband. “Tony! You told Rhodey there was an emergency?”

“I had to,” Tony protested. “How else was he going to get out of the evil clutches of the Air Force?”

“Ooooh!”

Steve whirled around to look at Juliana who was peeking out from Clint’s arms. She was pointing at the armor.

“Oooh! Wooh!”

Tony gasped loudly. “Did she just– Was she– Did she just ooh in awe at Rhodey?”

“Wooh!” Juliana exclaimed again, pursing her lips cutely.

Tony gasped again. “SHE DID!” He stomped his foot in petulance. “I showed her the Iron Man armor last month and she just stared at me! This is not fair!”

Rhodey’s sigh was evident through the suit. He looked at Tony then shook his head.

“Juliana, baby, Julia, how could you do this?” Tony whined. “How could you betray me like this, my love?”

“To be fair, Tony, Juliana’s probably just making sounds and doesn’t actually understand the concept of awe.” Bruce sighed. “Come on, Thor. We still have to make lunch. Hopefully the pasta didn’t overboil.”

“Is this another one of Anthony’s attempts at humor?” Thor asked. “Because if this deflates my soufflé, I will not think it at all amusing.”

Natasha punched Tony in the shoulder. (“Ow! Hey! That actually really hurt!”)

“You staying for lunch, Rhodey?” Bruce asked.

Rhodey’s sigh was loud through the suit. “Guess I am. Thanks, Bruce.”

“You’re a jackass, Stark,” Bucky snarled, his gun disappearing somewhere in his person. “I was fucking sleeping.”

Steve made a mental note to remind Bucky never to have weapons on him when he was playing with Julia. He knew Bucky was careful, but there was nothing wrong with reminding him. He then made a hand motion towards Clint, who handed the baby over. The archer then grabbed the metal-armed supersoldier and dragged him off to the kitchen.

“Come on, beastie. Let’s drown those murderous urges in some chocolate, okay? And since you’re our resident baker, you can go save Thor’s soufflé when it does inevitably deflate.”

“Lemme go!” Bucky growled, but was unable to resist the lure of sweets.

Natasha walked over to take Julia from Steve. She couldn’t hand the baby over with the armor in the way, but she held her up to the War Machine. In the background, Tony was still whining, which was probably what Natasha wanted as Julia smiled gummily at the armor.

Tony was pouting. “If I had known this was going to happen, I wouldn’t have called Rhodey here!”

Steve sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose and reaching for patience. “And just why did you call Rhodey here, Tony? Why did you have to make up some emergency and bother him?”

Tony ignored Steve, busy giving Rhodey the stink eye. “What are you wearing under that? Did you even wear what I told you to?”

The face plate slid up to show Rhodey’s intensely unamused face. “Why the hell would I even bother thinking about what to wear when you left me some vague message telling me to rush over here because there some kind of emergency, you fu– da– bas–” Due to the baby in the room, he glared at Tony for lack of a curse.

“So you’re wearing nothing under there?” Tony asked, walking over and peering at the armor as if he could see through them. At the back of his mind, Steve wondered how he even knew what Tony’s perving-on-Rhodey face was.

If looks could kill, Tony would have disintegrated into ashes by now.

“You are so adorable, my chocolate latte,” Tony said, patting Rhodey’s armored arm. “And to answer your question, husband mine, I had to, okay? If I didn’t, Rhodey is going to miss another month, like a heathen.”

At the corner of his eye, Steve noticed Natasha’s cheek twitch, so slight that Steve wouldn’t have noticed it if his eyesight wasn’t so sharp.

“Oh, your monthly photo book?” she asked casually.

“Yeah, because tall, dark and scrumptious over here said he wasn’t going to make it this month. So I had to fake an emergency. Poor Julia.” Tony sighed. “Seems like Uncle Rhodey doesn’t want to take a photo with you.”

Rhodey frowned. “Stop being dramatic. I didn’t say I _couldn’t_ come, I said I _might_ not make it in time. And I was supposed to be on my way to a meeting to request leave, you as– ar– jerk,” He ended none-too-gracefully.

Tony wasn’t even fazed. “Oops. Well at least now you have your excuse.” He waved his hands in shooing motions. “Now, chop, chop, porkchop, go and have the bots take that armor off.” He paused. “But since you’re going _au naturel_ under there, you can strip that off in the workshop. And honestly, I really need to get started on that undersuit I’d been planning to make for you. I keep putting it off whenever Julia does something adorable, which is every single hour. We can retake your measurements now–”

“You’re just going to cop a feel, pervert,” Rhodey countered.

“I always wanna feel you up, darling, you know that,” Tony leered. “And I won’t touch… much, but I’m lying, obviously, so come on. Let’s get the armor off you.”

Steve sighed, watching his husband and his best friend and their manic avalanche of words that were secretly saying: ‘I am secretly super happy my best friend is here and I pissed him off so I will keep talking to distract him’. Rhodey was glaring at Tony, but even he knew that look: ‘I am secretly super happy to be here, but my best friend is an ass and I am not going to let him off easy.’

Steve turned to Natasha, motioning with a hand. “They’re going to take a while. Come on.”

Natasha nodded. She cradled Juliana against her chest. Juliana looked up at her, fist in her mouth.

“Let’s go check Uncle Thor’s soufflé, shall we, Yulia?” she asked. “And I know you’d rather be with me than Uncle Rhodey, anyway.”

“Hey, watch it,” Rhodey said, though the edge of his lip twitched.

“Get some clothes on, Colonel, then you’ll get a turn,” Natasha said. She bounced Julia up and down.

Julia let out a peal of laughter and Steve couldn’t resist running his fingers along her soft head and curly hair. Julia turned his way, waving a drool-covered fist. Steve let Natasha carry her off though, reminded of Natasha’s telling twitch.

Behind them, Tony and Rhodey were still arguing and Steve decided to ignore them. He glanced at his watch to check the time. Tony would get Rhodey out of the armor first, then they’d slap each other around and dillydally in the workshop until JARVIS reminded them about lunch. They’d keep the antics to a minimum at the dining table, mainly because Rhodey was a gentleman and would ask how everyone was doing, while also deftly ignoring Tony’s demands for attention. Then they’d either bring Julia along and slap each other _nicely_ down at the workshop, or leave her upstairs and then slap each other _not-so-nicely_ down at the workshop.

Steve was kind of hoping it was the latter, because for all that Rhodey was one of the best men Steve knew, he was still weak when faced against Tony’s wiles. When they were together, things and people ended up broken, on fire, drunk, or naked, sometimes all at the same time. Steve wouldn’t want Julia to see that, at least not until she was old enough to understand that Dada and Uncle Rhodey just had a really special friendship – romance, really – that nobody understood, except maybe Aunty Pepper.

 

 

 

Unlike Bucky’s disdain for cameras, Rhodey was similar to Pepper and wasn’t averse to being photographed. It was probably part and parcel of being around Tony Stark. He also didn’t mind if it was Tony taking the photo, even if Tony was being obnoxious and demanding about it.

Steve secretly thought Rhodey was enjoying it, for a myriad of reasons. For one thing, Rhodey had both Tony and Julia mostly to himself. Steve knew how much the Colonel missed his best friend and vice versa and they’d never been shy about expressing their affection for one another. But now that Tony was a father and that Rhodey was named godfather, he wanted time to get to know the baby too. Second, Rhodey liked needling and annoying Tony. Case in point: according to the billionaire’s rants, the photos looked terrible because Rhodey was not ‘catching the light’ or something and kept getting his arm in the way.

“How long is the Colonel’s leave this time?” Phil asked, watching Rhodey playing peek-a-boo with Juliana, who was shrieking at him and laughing as loudly as her little lungs could go. She had a thing for screaming now, which wasn’t good for super soldiers with super hearing. Tony was belly down on the carpet, camera tilted at them, claiming to be taking some kind of creative shot if only Rhodey would cooperate. Rhodey was intensely ignoring him.

“I’m not sure,” Steve admitted. Rhodey was a busy man and he had very few days off, days he had to divide between his family, friends, and Tony. (Yeah, Tony was a category onto himself.) He’d been here for over a day now and he hadn’t mentioned leaving anytime soon.

“Considering that this is a social visit, the Air Force might start making noise if he stays here for too long,” Phil mused, frowning. “Maybe I should check–”

There was another scream from Julia and Steve winced as his ears rang. Phil noticed and gave a sympathetic smile.

“Air Force is fine with it, Phil-bug. I already cashed in a favor,” Tony piped up, apparently having heard them over the sound of Julia’s screaming.

“Uh-oh.” Steve mumbled. He turned to see Phil rubbing his temples, obviously already anticipating a headache.

“I’m gonna go make some calls and most likely soothe a few ruffled feathers,” Phil muttered under his breath.

Rhodey waved a hand, giving Phil a slightly apologetic look. “I tried to stop him, but he used a baby against me. I was weak.”

Julia let out a happy little shriek and batted at Rhodey’s hand to make him pay attention. Tony giggled at his baby and kept taking photos.

Phil glanced at Julia and sighed. “I don’t blame you, Jim. I blame Tony.”

“Go away, Agent,” Tony called, flapping a hand. “We’re having a photoshoot here. Your glower is casting a bleak light on everything.” He had his phone upside down and Rhodey had devolved from playing peek-a-boo to making animal sounds. Juliana was attempting to copy him by shrieking nonsensically at each word.

Phil glared at the back of Tony’s head and Steve gave him an apologetic look, all the while trying not to put his hands over his ears. Tony was no doubt going to take a picture just to embarrass him.

“Tony, I’m going to go see Phil out. Plus, my ears are ringing,” he said.

Tony didn’t even look up. “Okay. Rhodey and I will keep the munchkin entertained.”

Steve waved a hand and followed Phil down the hall towards the elevator.

“Juliana’s growing up fast,” Phil commented, soft in that way he was only when around Julia and the Avengers. “And parenthood suits you… both of you.”

Steve ducked his head, flushing a little. “Thanks, Phil.” He smiled. “And I can’t believe Julia’s almost four months old. It’s like she came home to us only yesterday.”

“I do have a concern though,” Phil spoke up, and Steve immediately straightened. “Nothing serious, Steve. Don’t worry.” He pulled out two folders among the few he had on hand. “I’ve been meaning to give these to you, actually. I guess now’s a good time.”

Steve flipped through the first one. It contained mission briefings over the past few months, recruitment files, and training details.

“Your paternity leave is coming to a close soon,” Phil said. “You’ll be going to SHIELD HQ regularly, which is a good thing let me tell you.” He grinned. “Some of the agents have been asking after you, Tony, and Juliana, while the new recruits that came in over the past months were disappointed to hear that Captain America and Iron Man weren’t dropping by headquarters due to paternity leave.”

Steve sighed. Every time new recruits were brought in, it was always the same thing. He found their admiration flattering, but the sheer gall and forwardness of a few made him uncomfortable and annoyed him, especially since Steve had never made it a secret that he was a happily taken man.

“Oh, did the agents get the Thank You cards Tony and I sent for all the presents?” Steve asked, reading through the files on hand. “Sitwell? Klein? Hill? Fury?”

(Director Nick Fury gave them really beautiful high-grade baby monitors, which was… kind of to be expected from the man, really. Tony immediately broke them down to check for bugs, to which Steve didn’t really protest. In comparison, Agent Hill gave them a lovely, stress-free baby bathtub.)

“They all did. Miss Hauer cried.” Phil’s lip twitched. “Having a child together was the final straw. She was so happy for you two. Oh, and she said thank you for the cheese rolls you sent. They were her favorite.”

Everybody knew Miss Hauer. She was the elderly Head of Accounting and knew every single agent, recruit and trainee in SHIELD. She and Tony got along like a house on fire and she was one of the few people Steve personally told in confidence when he and Tony finally decided to start dating. She called herself a diehard fan of theirs, said they were well-suited together.

“Anyway,” Phil waved a hand, “As agreed, you’ll be doing regular hours for a few weeks in a consultant and trainer’s capacity. I took the liberty of pulling a few of the open cases we have so you can review them with fresh eyes, and I have the stats of some of the new recruits you’ll be overseeing once you come back, just a few things to get back into the loop.”

“Thanks, Phil. I appreciate this.” Steve looked up. “How about that request…”

“SHIELD is going to hold off on giving you field missions, unless said missions are a Level 7, require the intervention of the Avengers, or are close enough to the city and require immediate intervention.” He grinned wryly. “Director Fury and Agent Hill aren’t going to stop pestering you from taking missions though, but you can decline or accept within reason. I have the approval Director Fury signed months ago.”

“Thanks, Phil. You’re a lifesaver.” Steve sighed. “I know Pepper and Happy are going to be around and Tony can keep SI under control, but I don’t want to be too far from Julia, for now at least, not as much as I can help it.”

“…which is why Miss Potts and I have a solution.” Phil motioned to the other folder.

The elevator dinged open and they stepped inside as Steve opened the other folder.

“Miss Potts and I thought you might require the services of either a nanny, or at the very least an on-call babysitter,” Phil said as Steve leafed through the personnel files in his hand. “We haven’t interviewed anybody, just did some background checks, then compiled the ones that both Miss Potts and I felt would be a good match. You can take as long as you need to pick one or none at all, but we both thought it would be good for you to have the option.”

Steve was awed at the gesture. Everybody had been so supportive when he and Tony started dating all the way to when they got married. Steve didn’t really think that would change now that they have a kid, but displays like these from the people he considered his family couldn’t help reminding him that he had a lot to be thankful for.

“Thank you, Phil. I appreciate this, and I know Tony will to.” He reached over to place a hand on Phil’s shoulder, taking care not to crease his suit too badly. Phil hated that. “I know Tony grew up with a nanny, but before we decided on starting a family we both agreed that we didn’t want anybody else raising our child. But I guess we haven’t really ironed out the kinks completely.”

“It’s been pretty quiet, but we both know it’s not going to stay that way,” Phil said gently.

“Yeah,” Steve muttered. “I’ll keep this in mind, Phil. Thank you.”

Just in time – or maybe JARVIS had been kind enough to wait, Steve didn’t really notice – the elevator doors opened with a soft ding.

Phil got off, waving a hand. “Take some time to think about it. There’s no rush, and I’m sure you won’t find a shortage of babysitters with the Avengers.” The ‘and myself’ was implied.

“I know. Thanks again. See you later.” Steve waved a hand as Phil walked down the hall.

“Where to, Captain?” JARVIS asked.

“Penthouse, please,” Steve said. “I just need to get changed. Then, please tell Tony I’ll be at the gym. He and Rhodey can play with Julia, but remind them she’ll need a nap soon.”

“Will do, Captain.”

 

 

 

Later that night, Rhodey was finally getting ready to suit up and head back. He was getting in a final cuddle with Juliana, who was thankfully feeling agreeable about being doted upon. Tony was being petty and pouty on the couch, occasionally wailing that Rhodey didn’t have to leave.

“You sure you’re riding out there at night, Colonel?” Bruce asked.

“I’ll be fine,” Rhodey said. “I’ll be meeting up with an escort team and we’ll be taking a detour.” He waved a hand, the term Classified obvious in his tone.

“We’re glad you stayed a while,” Steve said, reaching out to take Juliana. She let out a displeased gurgle but was soothed when Steve bounced her gently.

“Me too,” Rhodey said and he definitely looked a bit more relaxed compared to when he arrived. He turned to the couch. “Come here, you. Stop pouting. You look so pathetic.”

“Still look better than you,” Tony mumbled, moving sluggishly, as if it was such a pain.

Rhodey just rolled his eyes and hauled the genius up with a grin, before wrapping him in a bear hug. For all his pretending, Tony hugged him back just as fiercely.

Steve let them have a bit of privacy and handed Julia over to Bruce, ignoring the man opening his mouth in an attempt to decline. He and Tony had talked about it and they both agreed on how important it was for Bruce to bond with the baby. Hell, they both knew it was important for the baby to bond with _the Hulk_. Bruce was ridiculously cautious, never once initiating contact, but he – both of them – were family and Juliana was not going to grow up afraid of either of them.

“Oh, Rhodey, did you get your photo?” Natasha asked from her spot curled up on the loveseat.

Steve glanced at her, but Natasha just seemed genuinely curious.

“I did,” Rhodey said. He held up a red document tube. “Tony printed it out for me.”

“Poster-sized, of course, because they were adorable,” Tony nodded.

“Will we be seeing the photo you picked?” Phil asked. Bruce approached him, attempting to hand over Juliana, but the agent ignored him. Natasha immediately shook her head when he turned to her.

Julia let out a soft cry and waved a drool-covered fist demandingly. Bruce started rocking her, a bit awkwardly, but it worked. Steve smiled, his baby girl had good timing.

“It’s definitely a keeper,” Rhodey said. “Julia’s a beauty.” He made to twist the cap of the tube.

Tony grabbed his arm. “Hey, hey, hey! Don’t open that now! I was real careful wrapping it up and I might have confetti in there, you never know!”

“Why would you put confetti in here, you idiot?” Rhodey asked, sighing.

“I said I _might_ have, but now you’re curious aren’t you? Tony grinned, waggling an eyebrow teasingly.

“You’re an ass. Aww. Hell.” Rhodey glanced at Julia guiltily. “Sorry about that. Anyway, guess I’ll be opening this back at base. It’ll be a good surprise for the guys there, let’em see how beautiful my goddaughter is.”

He smacked a kiss on Julia’s cheek one last time and handed out hugs and back slaps to the guys and a chivalrous kiss to Natasha’s dainty hand before walking out to the pad. Tony trailed after him.

“Safe flight,” Tony said.

Rhodey nodded. “I’ll call you as soon as I can.”

The two exchanged one last hug and they all watched Rhodey get suited up by the bots on the landing pad before he jetted off with a final wave.

Tony reached under the couch and pulled out a box. He reached in and threw a handful of paper confetti in the air.

“You really did put confetti in there,” Natasha said, rolling her eyes, though she couldn’t hide her amusement when Tony tossed a handful her way.

“Of course I did,” Tony huffed. He tossed a handful over Phil’s head. “Confetti goes well with surprises.”

Phil sighed, looking at the little papers sticking to him. “Stark, be glad I’m not wearing a suit.”

Bruce reached over for a few colorful pieces and waved them over Juliana’s head. She looked at them transfixed. At least Bruce stopped trying to give her away.

Tony bounced over and Steve immediately stepped back, but ended up getting confetti stuck in his hair.

“Tony, you are going to clean all that,” he said. “And don’t say you’re going to leave it to the… roombas…”

Tony’s words suddenly registered in his head.

“Surprises…” Steve murmured.

Pre-serum Steve had a strong intuition, something that was still present post-serum, especially when coupled with his heightened senses. And honestly, when applied to his devious, mischievous, trouble-making husband, well… he had learned to always, _always_ listen to his gut.

Because Tony had that really telling hitch in his voice when he said the word surprises, with an –s.

“There’s more than one poster inside that tube, isn’t there?”

If Tony wasn’t in the presence of incredibly deadly, sharp superheroes and his own husband, he might have gotten away with the subtle twitch to his eyebrow.

“What kind of photos are in there?” Natasha asked, curious.

“Uhh. Nice ones? What’s wrong with you?” Tony turned to Steve. “Jealous, apple pie? Want me to print one out?” He leered. “One of me? We can pick one from our private–”

Bruce groaned and raised Julia higher up his chest, as if hiding behind her. “Don’t finish that thought, please.”

Steve kept his gaze on Tony, who was trying not to be cowed. “JARVIS, what photos did Tony–”

Tony yelped. “Belay that, Jay!”

“Rogers-override- six-zero-alpha-nine-three-one.” Steve crossed his arms over his chest. “JARVIS, show me the photos Tony printed out for Colonel Rhodes.”

“JARVIS, no!” Tony screeched.

“Yes, Captain.”

And it must mean something horrible if Steve could hear the relief in the AI’s voice.

The large-screen TV flared to life, showing a slideshow of four photos.

The first one was the one of the Colonel and Julia, which was fine, but Steve’s eyes widened at the second photo.

“Oh my g– TONY!”

Now that he was caught, Tony tried to save his own skin.

“It was a surprise! And, I mean, it seemed like such a waste to put just one photo in that tube, not to mention it was a waste of poster paper and ink!”

“He’s going to open that tube in front of the Air Force! What if they see those?” Steve shouted as the third photo appeared.

“They’d be impressed,” Natasha spoke up, staring at the photo. She tilted her head to the side. “I didn’t know Rhodey looked like that under the suit.”

“Tony, you…” Steve stuttered. The fourth photo appeared on screen and he flushed. Bruce and Phil groaned. Natasha just laughed. “JARVIS, send a message to Colonel Rhodes! Now!”

“Of course, Captain,” JARVIS replied promptly. “However, he has already turned off all comms in anticipation of his Classified mission. He might not see your message in time.”

Phil groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I am going to make some calls.” He glared at the Tony. “And I’m going to call Pepper first.”

“Wow,” Bruce pushed his glasses up his nose at the fourth photo. “Talk about modesty.”

Steve turned around, but Tony was already hoofing it to the elevator.

“TONY! GET BACK HERE!”

  

[Image: Rhodey and Juliana are in the nursey. Rhodey is on the rocking chair with Juliana on his lap. They’re reading and listening to Julia’s ‘Amazing Animals’ play-a-sound book. Rhodey is pressing a button and Juliana is wide-eyed with her mouth in an ‘O’ looking surprised. Half of the War Machine armor is visible, standing guard off to the side.]

[Image 2: Rhodey is being stripped off the armor by the robot arms, his chest and one of his thighs are bare.]

[Image 3: Rhodey has his back turned to the camera. He is completely naked, save for the metal jetboots of his suit.]

[Image 4: Tony is lying sideways across the table, head propped on a fist. He is wearing sunglasses, a tight black crop top that hid the arc reactor but showed off his abs, and the metal jetboots of the suit. An Iron Man helmet is placed strategically over the crotch area. It’s signed ‘With love, Tony,’ with a red kiss mark. Tony’s lips in the photo looked like a matching shade.]


	5. Fifth Month

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Brucie, my scintillating, science side piece,” Tony fluttered his eyelashes flirtatiously. “Darling, dearest, sweetums, you know I love you, don’t you?”
> 
> Bruce just looked amused. “Yes, Tony? Do you need something?”
> 
> Tony made a kissy face at him. “Are you free from Sunday to Wednesday to spend a few days with the most adorable person in the world? And the cutest, most gorgeous baby in the world? And Steve?”

**[NOVEMBER - FIFTH MONTH]**

It wasn’t as if the Avengers weren’t aware of Juliana’s monthly baby photo book. They had all received Juliana’s daily emails after all – and yes, Tony went and made or bought their daughter her own email and domain, or something of the sort – and none of them would miss the email blasts of ‘Juliana’s Monthlys!!!’ Not to mention the fact that the photos were hanging on the nursery wall.

Plus, he and Tony and the others had been pretty obvious about it. Rhodey crashed into the Tower last month, Pepper had the photo on her office desk, and DUM-E, U and Butterfingers still occasionally showed off their copies of the photos to any visitors to Tony’s workshop.

Bucky had been quiet about his, but the picture had a place on honor on his nightstand beside pictures of his Ma, one with tiny!Steve, and another with all the Avengers (Steve actually put that group photo there, but Bucky didn’t throw it out so it counted.) Steve and Clint, possibly even Natasha, were probably the only ones who actually saw those private photos in the sanctity of Bucky’s bedroom, but Bucky also had the photo as his Stark phone wallpaper and hadn’t been all too subtle on leaving his phone out a few times the past few weeks.

(Steve had seen Bucky staring at the photo a few times, always with that tiny, content, disbelieving smile on his face.)

So after Rhodey and Juliana got their picture taken and it had circulated online promptly – and Tony was punished by Steve, Pepper and Phil for the stunt he pulled (though their ideas of *ahem* punishment differed greatly) – there started a weird tension around the tower.

Steve thought about how casual Natasha was when she mentioned the photo book last month. He should have known. Natasha was never _casual_.

“You can feel it, can’t you?” Steve asked, looking up at his husband from where he was on the floor playing with Juliana. He was going back to SHIELD tomorrow and he was a ball of mixed emotions right now.

“Sure.” Tony was stretched out on the couch, busy with his tablet. He didn’t even look up, probably hadn’t even heard him.

Steve waited for his husband to elaborate, when he didn’t he reached out and poked Tony on his ticklish side, making him jump. Juliana seemed to love that as she giggled from her spot between Steve’s legs and clapped her hands. Steve smiled and leaned down to kiss her on her curly head. She could sit up by herself now for a few seconds at a time, and Steve was feeling really proud. She had been ahead of the curve on most milestones and Tony (and maybe Steve, sometimes) had been telling everyone what a genius she was.

“Tony.”

“Yes, marshmallow?”

Steve sighed.

Tony finally turned to him, letting the tablet slip to the carpeted floor. “Okay, see… between the photos up in the nursery, Pepper and Rhodey, not to mention Robocop, all talking about it, and Julia’s daily, weekly, and monthly email blasts–”

And honestly, Steve would say it was excessive, but he and Tony actually had a lot of fun making those emails.

“–everyone knows we’re doing monthly family photos. And we’ve already gone with family, or at least the closest ones. I’ve got Pep, Rhodes and Happy and you have Barnes. So now it’s just a question of who’s up next.” Tony shrugged.

Steve reached out as Juliana started tipping backwards. She giggled, finding it all so hilarious, and started tipping herself sideways whenever Steve let her go. “Should we tell them they’re all going to get a picture?”

Tony shrugged again. “Nah. I mean, seriously, they probably know. They’re just wondering about the order and probably planning their shoot. I say we not mention a thing and make them squirm.”

Steve frowned. “That’s not nice. I think we should tell them so that they don’t feel as if they’re competing. Maybe send out a schedule.” He grabbed his phone, taking pictures as Juliana started trying to roll over, making cute grunting sounds. “Goodness knows we send out enough emails. I don’t want anyone feeling left out. And besides, it’s Thanksgiving.”

“Babe, we don’t exactly spend Thanksgiving like normal folks anyway,” Tony said. “And the holidays have nothing to do with this.”

“Tony, I don’t want to spend the next few months with this weird tension,” Steve argued. “And maybe they’d have ideas for their photos. We won’t get away with just taking candids of everyone. Honestly, Natasha might probably pick or plan her photo anyway.”

“Eeehhhh.” Tony made an undecided, yo-yoing, so-so gesture with both hands, before shrugging.

“And,” Steve poked Tony on the side again, sending him scrambling away and making Julia giggle, “And it’s Thanksgiving, so we have much to be thankful for, like Julia and family and the fact that we all haven’t killed one another yet, or that nothing has killed us.”

“That is true,” Tony muttered, sliding onto the floor and making a silly face for Julia. “Barton and Barnes better be thankful I haven’t murdered them.”

“No murder talk in front of the baby.” Steve sighed.

“You started it,” Tony countered.

Steve let Tony and Julia play for a while, pleased as punch whenever the three of them were together.

“So? Can I send them the schedule?”

Tony sighed. “Steve, baby, I really think it’s better as a surprise, and if we send it out, the tension of waiting is going to be even more unbearable.” When Steve couldn’t help but pout, Tony leaned over to kiss his cheek. “But fine, fine, we can just sort of tell them, dumpling. I’ll handle it.”

“Okay, thank you,” Steve said. “And those nicknames are going to get old, you know.”

Tony smirked. “I haven’t repeated one so far, peach bottom.”

 

 

 

Two days later, it was time for a family dinner-slash-movie night. Steve and Tony had been prepared to pass on movie nights for a long while because Julia was scared of loud noises and any sudden reactions or loud exclamations from the team. But in a show of solidarity, the others would occasionally pick a cartoon, a Disney film, or something mild so that the family of three could join them for a while and then switch to other films after Julia was bundled off to bed.

Today, they were supposed to watch Moana, and the others even brought Julia gifts. Natasha had dressed her in a pink top and white shorts similar to baby Moana, and even tied a plastic pink flower on Julia’s brown curls. Clint brought along a chicken Heihei stuffed toy. Julia had screeched at it, banged it on the blanket covered floor for a few moments, before starting to gnaw on one of the chicken’s legs. Clint counted it as a win.

“Don’t worry, Steve,” Phil said, as he, Steve and Natasha handed out the plates. “I made sure Clint cleaned it before handing it over.”

Their extra wide, extra sturdy coffee table was groaning under the weight of the food piled atop. Tonight was takeout night, so there was a mishmash of everything from Mexican tacos, Chinese dumplings, Thai chicken, to Indian curry. Dessert was off limits though. Bucky took pride in whipping up something for movie nights.

Tony flounced in, late to the party, as always. He smacked a kiss on Juliana’s curly head and took a moment to compliment her demolishing her toy with her new itty bitty baby teeth, before moving over to smack Steve on the ass.

Steve sighed as Natasha’s lip quirked and Phil rolled his eyes.

“What’s for dessert, Buckeroo?” Tony asked.

“Blueberry and blackberry pie with crumble on top.” Bucky grinned proudly. “So you better leave some space for that.”

“Oh, daaaamn, that sounds good,” Clint moaned.

Thor perked up. “That sounds like a mighty treat, Friend Barnes. I would also want some.”

“I made a lot, good for everybody, super soldiers and gods.” Bucky grinned. “Babies too, if zvonochek wasn’t so teeny yet.”

Juliana paused from slobbering all over her new toy and regarded Bucky with a gummy smile. She raised a hand towards him, making grabbing motions.

Bucky scooped her up, kissing her cheeks until she was shrieking with laughter. “Zvonochek, when you grow up, I’m going to teach you the fine art of baking. It’s all about technique, ya know? An’ good instincts an’ good taste…”

Steve watched them, transfixed at his best friend and his daughter.  He was broken from his musing when Natasha elbowed him gently. She gave him a small smile and wiggled the phone she sneakily had in one hand.

“I’ll send it to you,” she said.

Tony tossed himself down onto one of the couches, head landing on Bruce’s lap. Bruce grunted, but didn’t complain.

“Brucie, my scintillating, science side piece,” Tony fluttered his eyelashes flirtatiously. “Darling, dearest, sweetums, you know I love you, don’t you?”

Bruce just looked amused. “Yes, Tony? Do you need something?”

Tony made a kissy face at him. “Are you free from Monday to Wednesday to spend a few days with the most adorable person in the world? And the cutest, most gorgeous baby in the world? And Steve?”

Steve snorted. “Gee, thanks, honey.”

“Uhm…” Bruce looked over at Steve. “Am I supposed to say yes?”

“If you’re not busy,” Steve said. He set about scooping some chicken and curry for Tony. God knew his husband wasn’t going to do it himself what with how busy he was flirting with Bruce.

Bruce looked down at Tony. “Why so long? And where to?”

Tony sat up and beamed. “It’s for Julia’s photo book, of course!”

Everyone perked up, save for Bucky who looked smug.

Bruce blinked. “Her… her photo book?”

“Yep!” Tony patted Bruce’s cheek. “There are a bunch of us so good thing we have about eight more months to go. That’s about a thousand more pictures to take. Pep hijacked her own thing and Steve had to take a candid of dinosaur Barnes over there because he’s allergic to cameras–”

Bucky scowled at him. “Just because I don’t want my face or my ass splashed all over the news like a certain douchebag–”

“Bucky.” Steve sighed and motioned to the baby in his arms.

Bucky scowled at him and handed Julia over to Thor, who bounced her delightedly with his bulging biceps. She shrieked and gave him a drooly smile. Steve handed Thor a bottle for Julia. Thor had been the first to notice that Julia could hold her bottle up on her own now and took great delight feeding her.

“Oh, please.” Tony scoffed. He accepted his plate from Steve. “You’re Captain America’s best friend, you live in New York City, and you joined this mess of a clown brigade. You’re the most photographed assassin in the world. Your privacy’s already shot to kingdom come, you donut bumper.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow at Steve. “Donut bumper?”

Steve explained. “Gail heard Tony over the phone when he was cursing his engineers and she didn’t take it lightly, ripped him a new one. He’s trying to be more… creative and family-friendly.”

“Ah. Dearest Gail. Fate has yet to see our paths cross.” Thor sighed. He smiled down at Julia as he fed her, so gentle despite his large, firm stature. Through some odd coincidences, Thor and Gail always had conflicting schedules. No matter how hard Steve tried to set something up, things never worked out and they had never met one another in person.

“And I think it appropriate for Anthony to show restraint,” Thor added. “We would not want your offspring spouting such foul words.”

“Thanks, Thor,” Steve said, relieved someone was being appropriate.

“–Especially as she has yet to understand them. But once she is of age, then she can use them most aptly.” Thor nodded sagely. “I don’t partake in it myself, but Lady Sif and Brunnhilde say it is quite invigorating, shouting it to the heavens as they pummel their foes.”

Clint snickered. “That’s true. Nothing like a good dose of profanity to get the blood pumping.”

“Ooh, profanity, big word, Barton,” Bucky smirked, kicking Clint on the shin lightly.

“Fuck you, Barnes,” Clint said.

Steve sighed. He didn’t know what he expected. “Our daughter is not going to pummel foes or curse them out,” he said.

Thor looked at him and if he had his hands free, he would probably be wagging a finger at Steve. “Ah, but as we are men, dear Steven, we would do well to listen to women on the matters of what young girls would want.”

Natasha smirked. “Now _that_ is true, and I agree. If Juliana wants to curse out men, then she can. She should, actually.”

Thor motioned to Natasha with a raised brow at Steve, as if to say ‘see?’

“They said it could be quite cathartic,” Phil commented lightly. “The fact that it is usually taboo adds to the thrill.”

“Juliana is just going on five months,” Steve sighed. “Why are we even talking about her cursing?”

Tony flapped his hands in the air, demanding attention, as always. “Speaking of five months, concentrate, Steven. Stop going off topic.”

_“I’m_ going off topic?” Steve rolled his eyes.

“Concentrate,” Tony said again, before turning to his prey. “So Brucie-bear, you good for next week?”

Bruce, who had been quietly plowing through his meal amidst all the chatter, looked up, wide-eyed. “Um… uh…”

Clint smirked. “Hey, if you don’t want that slot, Doc, I’m taking it.”

“Or me,” Natasha commented. “I already know mine.”

“What do you mean you already know yours?” Tony asked, narrow-eyed.

“I am also free,” Phil commented. Steve was pretty sure he wasn’t, but he was also sure Phil would _make_ Fury give him time.

“NO!” Bruce jolted, strong enough to surprise them all. He coughed, fiddling with his glasses. “No! I… I want it! I… I want…” He trailed off, flustered at their looks and Tony’s smug grin.

“Good! Perfect!” Tony clapped his hands.

“Oh!”

Steve turned automatically towards Thor, who wasn’t able to catch Julia’s bottle as it missed the carpet and landed on the ground with a ding. Julia’s hand was raised, obviously having pushed the bottle away after being done with it. She looked pleased at what she had done and let out a giggle, arms and legs pinwheeling.

“She found it delicious! Another!” Thor boomed, a controlled one though, in consideration for infant ears.

“She’s fine for now, Thor,” Steve hastily said. “Her tummy won’t like it if she drinks more. Don’t forget to burp her.”

“That’s a new development. Hopefully, she doesn’t feel the need to start throwing things,” Tony commented. “Jay, calendar that: First time Julia tossed her bottle after being done with it.”

“Yes, sir,” JARVIS replied.

“That’s oddly specific,” Bruce muttered.

“You should see the Young Miss’s calendar, Doctor Banner,” JARVIS commented.

“Going back.” Tony leaned against Bruce. “You’re sure you are free next week, Doc? No takebacks.”

Bruce nodded, a little hesitant, but still willing. “Yes, I’m free.”

Tony jumped up. “Perfect! Everyone else is also invited!”

“What? Where?” Clint asked. “Invited to what?”

Tony clapped his hands together. “To the Thanksgiving Day Parade, of course! It’s on Tuesday, actually.”

“Tony, we can’t go to the Parade,” Natasha said. “Pepper banned you and SHIELD banned the rest of us. That’s why we do Thanksgiving dinner instead. _At home_.”

“Why are we banned again?” Bucky asked, to which Clint motioned explosions, screaming, before dramatically fainting on the floor. Julia giggled at the image.

“Fine then.” Tony sighed. “You can go with SHIELD’s supposed banning, which is not legal or binding anyway–”

“Yours is. Pepper has the paperwork for it,” Phil piped up.

“–Oooooor?” Tony grinned teasingly. Steve hid a smile behind his hand. Tony was like a spoiled kid in the candy store, knowing he’d get his way soon enough.

“Or what? Or what?” Thor asked, wide-eyed and curious.

Tony tossed a few keycards on the table. “Or we could ignore all that and go for Julia’s first Thanksgiving Parade!” He waved his hands in the air, excited as he talked. Julia waved her hands, making grabby motions too.

“I have it all planned. Hotel’s ready for us by Monday, so we get an extra day to take in the amenities and get the turkey and Thanksgiving dinner ready and all that pizzazz. Then we watch the Parade on Tuesday, have Thanksgiving dinner that night, and we’ll all be home, probably by Thursday, because we’ll spend Wednesday puking our guts out from overeating.”

He smirked at Bruce. “I just invited Brucie bear first so he can’t talk his way out of it.”

“Tony!” Bruce huffed.

Clint raised a hand, grinning lazily. “I’m in. I’m not turning down an all-expenses paid hotel by Tony Stark.”

“But we’re all still cooking Thanksgiving dinner, okay,” Steve stressed, looking around at everyone.

“Bucky will pack all the aprons,” Clint said, earning an eye-roll from the man.

“I would have thought you’d rather have Juliana’s first Thanksgiving here at the tower. She won’t exactly remember any of it,” Natasha commented quietly to Steve. They watched as Bruce tried to talk his way out of the trip, but Tony had picked Julia up and was waving the baby at him. Julia thought it was all a fun game. Thor was also vocal about getting to watch the Parade in person.

“But she’ll have pictures of it, and of us celebrating with her.” Steve shrugged. “Part of it is a change in scenery really. She’s still growing but she soaks things up like a sponge and we want her to be exposed to these things. We rarely have reason to take her out as it is, what with paparazzi always around.” He smiled when Clint tossed Bruce the Heihei toy which made Julia more determined to get to him. “She’ll have a lot of years to spend here at the tower, but we’re not really sure if next year we’ll have time to take her out and who knows if maybe she won’t even like it and we’ll make up a different tradition.”

“So this is some seize the opportunity thing,” Bucky asked, listening in.

Steve nodded. “And honestly, Tony really wanted to take Bruce out. So I thought I’d let him set up.”

Bruce had gotten over his hang ups of carrying Julia easily enough, pretty much because of Tony’s pushiness and Steve’s knack for handing Julia over to Bruce at a time when his hands were free. But his one-on-one interactions with the infant could be counted in one hand.

“The Parade is loud, Tony. And there are a lot of people,” Bruce protested weakly.

Tony’s reply was immediate, obviously he was prepared. “I took the whole floor of the hotel, so we have private rooms and a private balcony, buddy. You can spend a little time out with Julia just to see the balloons and then come inside if it gets too much, smoke some incense, cook the turkey, mash some potatoes and stuff, and watch it all from the live broadcast. Win-win! Tell him it’s a win, my love.”

Tony plopped Julia on Bruce’s lap, who immediately and very, very gently held her in place. Tony raised a fist in the air and Julia replied by immediately gnawing on Heihei’s tail, giggling.

Bruce turned to Steve, but Steve raised a hand to stop him.

“He’s planned it all out, Bruce, and you know he won’t stop nagging.” Steve smiled. “And I agree with Tony anyway.”

Tony nodded, happy to have gotten his way, as always. “Pep and Happy are coming too, which is awesome. Rhodey won’t be available, because the Air Force can be such horse puckies. We got Steve’s VA boyfriend and Jane, Darcy and Erik will be picked up from the airpo– oops.”

“You did? You invited Sam?” Steve turned to Tony, surprised. That wasn’t part of the plan. “And stop calling him my VA boyfriend.”

Thor had stood up, wide-eyed and already sparking a little at the tips of his hair from excitement. “Truly? You have invited Lady Jane, Lady Darcy, and Erik?”

Tony blinked. “Er. That was supposed to be a surprise. Dammit.”

Thor roared – a controlled roar, mindful of little ears –and immediately swooped Tony up in an embrace and shaking him.

“Hey! Let me go!” Tony resisted weakly.

“Man of Iron, you are a friend like no other,” Thor boomed. “I shall call my Lady Jane. Then I will be back with much haste and we shall partake in this movie of the sea, its shape changing demigods, and singing crustaceans for your offspring.” He smacked a kiss on Tony’s cheek. “Thank you.”

Thor bounced off, leaving a disheveled Tony melting across Steve’s lap.

“That was nice of you,” Steve said, wrapping an arm around him and kissing him gently on the corner of his mouth twice. “You’re sweet.”

“You’re disgusting, Stark.” Bucky grinned, looked a bit too fond despite his words.

“You’re all far too easy to please,” Tony grumbled, trying to put up a front despite the sweet gesture. And yeah, Steve married the sweetest, most kind-hearted fella.

“It’ll be fun, for everyone.” Tony batted Steve away. “Right, Brucie bear? No takebacks.”

Bruce still looked unsure, so Steve decided to help.

“Julia is going to grow up with superheroes for aunts, uncles and godparents,” he said. “She’s going to know me and Tony as her fathers, but also Captain America and Iron Man. Same goes with the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Agent Agent,” Phil smiled wrly at that, “And even the entirety of Asgard. We’re going to have to figure out how we’re going to introduce her to the Other Guy though, but you and him, you’re both going to be part of her life growing up.”

“Hear, hear,” Natasha cheered, smiling kindly. “The Captain has spoken.”

“It’s gotta be a crime to say no now,” Clint said, grinning.

Julia looked up at Bruce, chicken leg in her mouth and smiled. Bruce looked down and stroked the flower pinned to her hair. Julia giggled.

“Okay.”

  

[Image 1: A selfie taken by Tony with Julia and Steve on the limo on their way to the hotel. Steve is kissing Julia’s cheek and Tony is beaming at the camera.]

[Image 2: Thor twirling Jane in the air, a beaming Darcy and Erik waving in the background.]

[Image 3: Natasha smiling at the camera as she sat on the sofa with a mug of tea. Clint has his head on her lap, crossing his eyes and sticking his tongue out.]

[Image 4: Bucky is in the kitchen, wearing a black apron with the words ‘This Is A Manly Apron, For A Manly Man, Doing Manly Things, With Manly Food.’ Phil is in the background, waving a pair of tongs and wearing a blue apron with the words ‘The Grillfather’ on it.]

[Image 5: Bruce is on the balcony, cradling Julia in his arms as they watched the parade together.]

[Image 6: Tony with an arm around Pepper and Happy, Happy grinning widely and Pepper kissing Tony on the cheek.]

[Image 7: Steve and Sam talking and drinking beer as they watched the parade on TV.]

[Image 8: Tony and Steve are standing on the balcony. Steve is carrying Juliana and Tony is pointing something out to them. Julia had one hand on Steve’s shirt and another around Tony’s collar.]

[Image 9: A group picture of everyone gathered around the dinner table, with three gleaming turkeys in the middle and Julia in her high chair.]

[Image 10: Juliana looking up at the balloons, wide-eyed and fascinated.]

 

 

Steve propped the toy chest against his hip as he walked down the hall to the nursery. More and more of Julia’s toys were migrating to the living room, rec room, Tony’s workshop, Steve and Tony’s room, Bucky’s room, and Clint and Coulson’s room. Tony was certainly not going to put them back and Bucky and Clint definitely weren’t going to stop stealing some just so they could entice Julia to play, which left Steve to do all the work.

He sighed. He really needed to get them to help with more chores around here.

Steve paused when he noticed that the door to the playroom was open. Ever since Julia came into their lives, the Avengers and most of their family and friends usually took the trip to the playroom to see her or hang out in her room. Many a time their friends, or even Steve and Tony themselves, would just sit on the rocking chair with or without Julia in the room.

Having a child in the tower seemed to have brought them all a bit of perspective… and peace.

And nobody craved that more than the man already in the room.

Through the doorway, Steve could see Bruce’s side profile. He was standing in front of Julia’s photo wall and holding one of Julia’s toys, a Hulk plush toy that was part of an Avengers toy series Tony had SI make exclusively for Julia. Bruce was looking at the wall where Tony had put up the latest photo the minute they all got home from the parade.

Steve remembered that moment. Tony was telling Bruce to serve the turkey and he passed Bruce a large pot. Bruce had been a bit out of it, probably a little high on the good company and conversation as they all were, and was surprised to see a beaming Julia inside the pot. He was so surprised he had laughed.

Steve smiled. He placed the toy chest to the side. He could put that away later. Bruce probably knew he was there, but Steve thought it was a good idea to give the man some space and privacy.

He turned away and walked back down the hall.

 

[Image: Bruce is cradling a large, silver metal pot. Juliana is inside the pot, dressed in a Thanksgiving themed tutu and a crochet turkey cap. Julia is looking up at Bruce with a big smile, one hand clutching Bruce’s glasses. Bruce is laughing so hard, pink-cheeked and teary-eyed.]


	6. Sixth Month

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julia made a face and pursed her lips, letting out a raspberry. Her eyes lit up and she turned to Steve with a huge laugh.
> 
> “Hey! Julia learned how to blow a raspberry!” Clint cheered.
> 
> “That’s so good, baby girl!” Steve reached for her, always so proud of whatever his baby did.
> 
> Darcy was suddenly standing on the couch, wide-eyed and arms waving madly. “I taught her something! Oh my god! I have imparted knowledge! I take it back! _This_ is my finest moment!”

New York City was at its best and brightest during the Christmas season. Steve had always loved it, even back in the old days despite how much his health usually suffered because of the cold weather and the lack of hearty things to eat. Those were the times Steve’s Ma really had to tighten her belt, always trying to make sure Steve was as well-fed and warm as possible and scrambling for medicine whenever he couldn’t avoid getting the chills.

Steve rubbed his fingers against the window before him, resisting the urge to hunker down on the window seat with his thick, warm blanket. He reminded himself that he was inside, in the tower, warm and well-fed, and that his lungs were in no danger of suddenly seizing up.

His Ma had tried, and so did Bucky, and Steve himself had tried to be careful and not to make trouble. He tried finding work to help her, which would have been easy considering how much help people needed during the winter, but not a lot could actually be done by somebody short, weak, and sickly. What tugged Steve’s heartstrings even more was that as far as he could remember his Ma had never missed a Christmas present. No matter how small, tattered, or broken, his Ma would always have a gift for him and would scold him whenever he tried to return the gesture, claiming money was all better saved or spent on himself.

After his Ma had passed, Steve always looked back fondly, if a bit bittersweet, at the memories. The winter holidays most especially had a thing for making him feel melancholic.

“Ooh!”

Steve looked down, both surprised and not when he saw a tiny figure by his feet. Julia had recently started crawling and she was learning fast. All the Avengers knew to be cautious in case they suddenly found a baby underfoot.

Julia was dressed in a long-sleeved bodysuit designed to look like a penguin costume, complete with flipper feet and a black hoodie with pompom hair. She looked far too cute for words. Her playpen was a few feet away in front of the couch and she couldn’t have gotten out on her own if it wasn’t for the curly-haired man hiding behind the couch, peering from a distance.

“Good, good,” Tony shout-whispered. “Now, smile! Distract him!”

As if hearing her Dada, Julia immediately smiled up at Steve.

Steve melted, the memories of Before vanishing in the face of the Future he had before him.

“Come here, you.” Steve leaned down and swooped his daughter in his arms, peppering kisses all over her chubby cheeks. She screeched and giggled wildly.

“Boo.” Julia smiled toothily at him, her little palms pressed against Steve’s cheeks. Steve felt his heart melt.

“Yesss,” Tony hiss-whispered. “Tell him, baby girl. Tell him he’s being a… a… a gigglenoodle.”

Julia giggled and smacked her lips, grabbing hold of Steve’s nose.

“Good job! Yeah, you tell him!” Tony cheer-whispered. “Tell him to stop brooding and pay attention to you!”

Steve chuckled. He shifted Julia to step on his thigh and look over the crook of his elbow out the window and the view below. She immediately started banging on the glass, making ‘ooh’ sounds. A little hologram appeared on the window showing a cartoon Santa Claus and his reindeers dancing, JARVIS’s work no doubt. It made Julia laugh.

Satisfied that his daughter was secure, he glanced over at his husband. “Gigglenoodle?” he chuckled.

Tony shrugged. “I was being kid-friendly.” He stood up, stretching his arms over his head. He was in a thick, faded Stark Industries sweater, jeans and thick socks that were probably Steve’s. He moved over to sit beside Steve, one hand curling around the knee where Juliana was standing, still transfixed by JARVIS’ cartoon.

“You okay, babe?” he asked, smile soft and eyes softer, knowing.

It struck Steve again, as it did sometimes, of how much he loved Tony, this man who had offered his heart and home and returned Steve’s awkward affection with such deep trust and warmest regard despite all those before who had tried to beat it out of him. Tony, who grounded Steve and gave him something to look forward to, a family and a future filled with possibilities.

“I’m okay now,” Steve said, leaning forward until he could press a soft kiss to Tony’s lips.

Tony smiled back and reached out to tuck Steve’s blankets around his shoulders. “How about I make us some hot chocolate and we can–”

“Eww, keep it in the bedroom, you guys,” Clint whined walking in from the hall.

“Oh, please don’t,” Darcy said, following the archer. “I’d love to watch.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “No thanks, Darcy-darling. And we have our kid with us, you trumpet waffle.”

Clint grinned and tossed himself on the couch with a big bag of pretzels. Darcy settled on the floor close to Julia’s play mat. The presence of new people caught Julia’s attention and Darcy waved at her, grinning when the baby started pumping her legs up and down in excitement. Steve let her down on the floor gently.

“You still on that kid-friendly cursing kick?” Darcy asked Tony, grinning as she watched Juliana crawl towards her. She clapped her hands, coaxing Julia closer.

“I’m being a good role model,” Tony sniffed, glaring when Clint snorted.

Steve smiled and pulled Tony close, tucking the other man under his arm and wrapping them both in his blanket. “You’re being a wonderful Da, sweetheart.”

Clint made a stink face at them. “Like I said, keep all that ickyness where you won’t nauseate the masses.” He tossed a handful of pretzels into his mouth.

“My tower, my rules. Take off the hearing aids if you’re so nauseated,” Tony bit back.

“Aww, don’t mind the birdie, Iron Pot,” Darcy commented, just as Julia reached her. “He’s just being prissy and jealous because a certain _super-someone_ isn’t around.” She ignored Clint’s shout of indignation and smiled at Julia, held the baby over her head, and started making airplane noises. Julia giggled with delight and waved her arms and legs.

Steve noticed the mischief in Tony’s eyes, and kissed his cheek, shushing him. Tony huffed and pouted.

“Any updates?” Tony asked instead.

Clint made a face and murmured something under his breath. Darcy let out a snort, and tucked Julia into her arms. “Man in Black and the One-Armed Wonder told birdbrain to stop calling, and he’s too chicken to bother Lady Russia in the first place.”

SHIELD received a tipoff about shady activity in Norilsk, Russia and decided the information was sound enough to warrant sending out a team. It required undercover work and fluency in Russian, which was why Bucky and Natasha went up to bat. Phil went along as their handler since he had pretty passable Russian and was the only SHIELD agent Bucky willingly worked with.

It was a low-risk mission, so technically there wasn’t much to worry about. But Steve couldn’t help feeling antsy, and all three of them, Bucky moreso, had bluntly told Steve to stop calling every hour.

So, yeah. Steve could relate to Clint’s predicament. But he still had Tony and Julia, so the past three days they were gone flew by pretty fast. With no Bucky to join in his schemes, no Natasha to reign him in, and no Phil to keep him entertained, Clint was left releasing all his pent up energy, moodiness, and general moroseness on the remaining Tower residents and their guests.

Tony had sent out invitations to everyone who wanted to celebrate Juliana’s first Christmas and New Year together, and Jane and Darcy had RSVP-ed enthusiastically to spending the holidays at the Stark Tower with the new addition to the family. Jane and Thor took a detour to London for some personal time, but Darcy had arrived in town a few hours after the Quinjet took the others away and had gallantly volunteered for Clint-sitting duty after finding out all his other playmates had gone. Tony had strongly protested. He didn’t want his Tower blowing up, and those two certainly caused enough trouble worth ten people. But Steve had pushed Tony to leave them alone. A distracted Hawkeye was better than a miserable Hawkeye.

Despite Darcy’s enthusiasm though, it was obvious that Clint resolutely remained down in the dumps.

“It’ll be fine, Big Bird,” Darcy said. “Secret Secret Agent, Frozen Popsicle Number 2, and Her Gorgeousness will be back before you know it.” She pressed a kiss to a chubby baby cheek and then held Juliana up to Clint. “Now here. Channel all that depression into positivity and hug the mini-Avenger.”

“Darce-baby, stop waving my kid around like a body pillow,” Tony said. “And Julia is a mini- _honorary_ -Avenger. There will be no actual avenging or superhero-ing.” He scoffed.

There was a beep. “Sir, Miss Gail has arrived at the lobby,” JARVIS said.

“Ooh, she’s here! I’ll get that.” Tony smacked a kiss against the side of Steve’s head. “Be back in a jiff, minions.” He wiggled out of the blanket and ambled off, pausing only to kiss the top of Julia’s head. “Later, chicklet. Gotta get your Momma.”

Tony disappeared around the hall, whistling as he went. Steve watched him leave, feeling a little colder without his husband, but plenty warm enough in the company of friends.

Clint had put the pretzels away and moved to sit inside the playpen with Julia, playing with the blocks Thor and Queen Frigga had gifted her. They were made of some type of springy material, bouncing like a ball and changing colors whenever they were thrown around.

Darcy turned to Steve, ruby red lips pouting. “Okay, first of all, you know Thunderbae’s going to freak that he and Gail managed to miss each other… for the gajillionth time.”

“Don’t call him that,” Clint made a face.

Steve shrugged. “Yeah, but Gail gave us this weekend because she can’t be here for Christmas. How was she supposed to know Thor and Jane would suddenly decide to take a trip?”

“It’s turning out to just be some kind of game at this point,” Clint snorted. “I’m going to get a selfie with Gail and send it to him.”

Darcy slapped him on the head. “Don’t be mean. And when Thor gets depressed, it’s like trying to hug a jellyfish, squishy but sends my hair standing.” She turned to Steve. “And second point, Cap, you and Iron Dad aren’t planning on inducting junior-ette into the family business?”

“Technically, the family business would be Stark Industries,” Steve answered.

“You know what I mean, mon capitaine,” Darcy said, sticking her tongue out at him.

Steve spoke carefully. His and Tony’s thoughts on this weren’t a secret. Some of the team had asked them about it, and Tony had never been quiet about his opinion on the matter. God knew none of the team would judge them regarding their choices as parents. But this was also something he and Tony were personally working on.

“We can come up with a thousand reasons why we don’t want her to, but considering our personal choices, it would be hypocritical to tell our child she can’t do the same thing we are,” he said. “So it’s not as if we don’t want her to, but our kneejerk reaction is that we don’t want this for her – the danger, the sacrifices, the secrets…” He trailed off and watched Julia trying to grab Clint’s nose like it was a game, “If the world was kind, by the time Julia grows up, our jobs as superheroes would be obsolete.”

“If only,” Clint piped up, his smirk a bit bittersweet.

Steve chuckled. “So as scary as it is and as much as we say no, Tony and I know we’re not going to stop her from doing anything she wants.”

Darcy smiled him, eyes soft behind her glasses. “That’s good to hear.”

She suddenly seemed a bit wistful. Steve was far too familiar with that expression to know there was most likely a story there, but he knew better than to ask. Clint didn’t seem surprised or worried when he glanced over at her. He was leaning back against the foot of couch, Julia on his lap, and was letting her slam her tiny fists on the remote. The TV would have been a mess of sounds and channels if JARVIS wasn’t obviously directing it to cartoons and Christmas carols.

All of them had their own stories and secrets, and Steve knew the holidays were bringing out the melancholy in most people, not just him. Steve was once again reminded of how lucky he was – he was healthy and warm, surrounded by family and friends, and wanting for nothing.

In contrast, the holidays certainly had a positive effect on Tony. Steve knew how much cause his darling husband had more than most to despise this particular holiday, an occasion he had never really celebrated were it not for the kindness of his late-and-much-loved butler. Not to mention a time when he had lost both parents to that devastating car accident. But you wouldn’t know it with how completely and utterly Tony devoted himself to Christmas.

The Tower had been decorated from basement to penthouse in all manners of yuletide décor, and employees could be seen in costumes, ugly sweaters, and Santa hats. There was even a Tower-wide Secret Santa for the employees, while hot chocolate, hot apple cider, and candy canes were made available in all the breakrooms and lobbies.

Tony had left the individual suites alone, but the Avengers’ common floor had a large tree in the living room and a few smaller plastic ones in the various rooms. Their big tree had been decorated beautifully and left with lots of spaces left for anybody who wanted to hang up a décor, which had quickly devolved into a game of who could hang up the most interesting junk – so far there were two glass angels, one of Bruce’s spare glasses, a pair of figurine elves with beer bottles, four sprockets with the bots’ and JARVIS’ names painted on them, an Iron Man mask, strings of dried chili peppers, and Mjolnir balanced near the upper branches. A picture of Juliana on a star-shaped frame was balanced on top of the tree, which Steve knew neither he nor Tony had hung up. And hanging from the back wall was an array of stockings, labeled with all the members of their ragtag family, AIs, bots, magic hammers, and green rage monsters included.

“Ah, ah, ah, Juju-bean. No grabby the ears,” Clint said, taking her hands away from the hearing aids. “Uncle Clint needs that to hear your beautiful screams.”

“By the way,” Darcy piped up, suddenly brightening up. “Since it’s Christmas, what’re you gonna do about your little monthly project for junior-ette?”

Clint scoffed. “Don’t bother, Darce. The parentals already made the announcement. No photo-op this month. Boo-hoo.”

“But why?” Darcy whined. “Jane and I were already planning a super-duper cool theme so you’ll pick us for this month.”

Steve chuckled, moving over to sit beside Clint and Julia. “It’s Christmas and everyone’s here. It wouldn’t be fair to pick just one. So we decided we’ll have our first ever Christmas family photo for her.”

“Even though that is cute, I say to you…” Darcy let out a raspberry. “Jane and I had such good ideas too and Thor was gonna be part of it and you were gonna love it, I tell you! Love it! It was going to be epic!”

Steve chuckled. “We’ll all love it and Julia will love it whenever you’ll get the picture taken, Darcy. Don’t worry about it.”

Clint snickered. “Oh my god, Darce, you know what you did? You just blew a raspberry at Captain America.”

“My finest moment.” Darcy grinned, while Steve just chuckled. “And hey! Now I got confirmation that I’m going to get a photo!”

“Of course you are,” Steve said. “You and Jane are family too.”

Darcy’s lip wobbled a little and Steve managed to catch her when she tipped over the couch to hug him and kiss his cheek, her glasses clacking against his temple.

“And now I kissed Captain America!” she cheered. “Best day ever!”

Suddenly, there was an odd noise and all three of them looked down at Julia, who was wide-eyed in surprise, fingers curled up near her cheeks.

“What’d you do, Juju-bean?” Clint asked her.

Julia made a face and pursed her lips, letting out a raspberry. Her eyes lit up and she turned to Steve with a huge laugh.

“Hey! Julia learned how to blow a raspberry!” Clint cheered.

“That’s so good, baby girl!” Steve reached for her, always so proud of whatever his baby did.

Darcy was suddenly standing on the couch, wide-eyed and arms waving madly. “I taught her something! Oh my god! I have imparted knowledge! I take it back! _This_ is my finest moment!”

Clint burst out laughing which made Julia blow another raspberry and start giggling. She kept blowing raspberries, drooling everywhere, and laughing at herself in amusement. A fist was waving at Steve, as if trying to get his attention, which she already had.

Steve called out. “JARVIS, call To–”

There was a thud and Tony skidded in from the hall on socked feet, wide-eyed. “What is it? I’m here. JARVIS called. What happened? What’d she do?”

“Where’s Gail?” Steve asked, looking out towards the hall.

“Elevator,” Tony said, distractedly. He shuffled over and collapsed on the floor against Steve’s side. “Hey, munchkin, what’d Aunty Darce taught you?”

Julia blew another raspberry before devolving into a mess of giggles. Steve laughed at Tony’s absolutely besotted face.

“Jay, make a note of this on the calendar, would you?” Tony said.

“Already did, sir, and recorded it as well,” JARVIS replied.

“You’re a gem, babe.” Tony reached for the baby and swiped his thumb across her chin. “And oh my love, you’re making a mess.”

Darcy pointed a finger at him. “Ha! Lookit that, Iron-ic! I taught your spawn something!”

“Darce, don’t call her a spawn, and Tony, I love you, but I’m going to kick your behind for suddenly dumping all my stuff in the hall,” Gail said, huffing tiredly.

“Hey, Gail,” Steve called out.

“Hey, pretty Momma,” Darcy greeted. Clint waved a hand.

“Hey, Steve, Clint, Darcy, and hello, my little miracle,” Gail walked over and leaned down to kiss Julia’s chubby cheek and rub her head. “And just look at those curly locks. You certainly didn’t get those from me, or those baby blue eyes.”

Julia erupted into giggles and blew a loud raspberry at her face, making Gail laugh.

Clint snickered. “Oh, lord. Darcy’s done it now. Juju-bean’s gonna drool us an ocean at this point.”

“She’s having fun though,” Steve said, chuckling. He stuck his tongue out and blew one of his own. Julia look so surprised that Steve laughed.

“Ga! Boo!” Julia waved her fists. Gail blew one too, and Julia erupted into giggles. She turned to Tony, an expectant look on her face. Tony blew one right on her cheek.

“Ooh, the others are so going to be pissed they missed this.” Darcy got down on the floor and started tickling the baby. Baby giggles erupted in the air and Steve watched as Clint swooped down with a cry and ran off to save the baby from the cackling Darcy following behind.

“You’ll never take us alive!” he screamed as Julia absolutely shrieked in delight.

Gail broke out laughing, while Tony scrambled onto the couch, looking incredibly giddy himself and cheering them on.

Steve watched them all, warm and amused. It was times like these when the ever-present ice in his veins seemed to thaw almost completely. He remembered once again that for all there were things to miss and be saddened about, there were also so many more things to be grateful for.

His phone beeped.

Bucky: _‘all good here. ETA 3 days’_

Christmas was always bittersweet, and there were so many other people that Steve would miss, moments he would never get back, nightmares that would probably never stop, maybes and what ifs that would always run through his mind. But the world had also been kind to him – new friends gained and old ones returned, once-in-a-lifetime (twice in his case) experiences compared to most people, a husband and a child to share his life with and shower with all the love he had inside him.

Steve was happy, and he couldn’t ask for anything more.

 

 

 

“Tony, Steve, what’s that?”

Steve looked up from where he was bundling up a sleepy Julia in her long-sleeved bodysuit, leggings, and pale blue mittens. She just had a warm bath, which was among the top five things she loved – a list that included cows, bananas, Clint’s hearing aids, and the War Machine armor – much to Tony’s dismay.

(The only thing that had lifted Tony’s mood was that Julia had puked on Steve’s shield. Steve didn’t really take offense, but Tony decided that they were going with the idea that Julia was just a baby and obviously didn’t know better yet.)

“What’s what?” Steve asked.

Gail was surveying the baby mobile that hung over Julia’s bed.

The baby mobile had been one of the team’s projects for the baby and they had hung all manners of items from it, each person contributing a little something of themselves for the new addition to their family. They gifted it to Julia for her second month celebration and she had loved it ever since, always watching it whenever it was in sight and crying whenever she couldn’t find it once she was laid down for a nap.

It got to the point that Tony had fashioned an adjustable rolling pole stand for it so they could wheel it around easily enough whenever Julia was napping in the nursery, the playroom, living room, Steve and Tony’s room, the library, or pretty much anywhere.

The pole was also detachable, and Tony had unscrewed the top part from the stand and had brought it over to Gail’s bed, sliding it into the pole fastened behind her headboard.

Bruce had fashioned the body of the mobile, made of slim dark green metal with sprockets on the ends to symbolize machinery and had made sure that each hanging item was secure and there would be no potential choking hazards. Everybody else contributed small charms and trinkets to hang from it. Natasha, who turned out to be good at calligraphy, wrote a Russian verse on a piece of framed glass– Каждый кузнец своего счастья. Bucky built in a few little tinkling bells. Clint poked fun at the project, but he ended up working hard on his – taking the parts of a broken hearing aid, painting it yellow, and sticking it into a plastic coin that was painted like a starry sky. Phil knitted a little secret agent out of soft yarn and wool. Rhodey had airplane charms on his, while Pepper and Happy brought a colorful pair of baby screwdriver and baby wrench.

Then there was the taufr, a magical protection stone Thor brought from Queen Frigga of Asgard, said to guard children against those who wished them ill intent. Thor said that taufrs were common gifts for Asgardian newborns. The presenter would go to one of Asgard’s mines and pick out a gem or a stone they deemed worthy of gifting. Then they cleaned them until they shone and fashioned them into a trinket that would be presented to the babe as soon as they were born. Julia’s stone was chosen by Queen Frigga, and blessed by the Queen, the Allfather, and Thor, making it a rare gem indeed. It was hanging from the very center in a place of honor.

(In the privacy of their room, Tony admitted to Steve that he was relieved Loki didn’t touch the thing. Steve secretly agreed with him. Last they heard, the magic that had seemed to ensnare and corrupt Loki into attacking Earth had been purged from him, but magic did not grow strong without intent, so he was still kept under heavy guard in Asgard.)

“What’s that?” Gail asked again.

“Uh, that’s a baby mobile,” Tony drawled from his spot on Gail’s guest bed, surrounded by holographs. He reached up and tapped the mobile, making it spin around slowly. “Is that a trick question, Mama? Because in between working and thinking about how I’m going to stop Thor from complaining that the two of you still hadn’t seen each other in person yet, I’m kind of stumped by your line of questioning.”

Gail rolled her eyes and tossed herself on the bed, rocking it and sending Tony sprawling on his side.

“Hey!” Tony griped.

Gail waved a hand, minimizing the holographs to the side. “You’re not cute, you know that?”

“Au contraire, I am adorable,” Tony sniffed. “Aren’t I, tartlet?”

“Yes you are, darling,” Steve commented, busy attending to his daughter. Julia looked exhausted, but she smiled when Steve kissed her soft, warm, chubby cheek. She let out a weak raspberry making Steve chuckle.

“It’s not my fault I haven’t seen Thor,” she scoffed, her long straight hair spread out like a waterfall on her pillows. “It’s like Fate or maybe Mother Nature is telling us that we’re not meant to meet.”

“You’re telling me,” Tony grumbled.  “I planned it to the last detail, and what do you people do? Thor and Jane suddenly decide on a romantic getaway and you’re only available this weekend and won’t be able to spend Christmas here. You people suck.”

Gail poked him on the ticklish side, and Tony swatted her hand away.

“Anyway, what I was actually saying, is that the mobile’s quite beautiful,” she said, motioning to the mobile over her head. “The stone is definitely eye-catching. A team effort, you said?”

“Yeah, everyone pitched in,” Steve said, pressing another kiss to Julia’s cheek before handing her to her mother. “Here you go, sweetheart. Snug and warm with Mama.”

Gail laid Julia down between her and Tony, smiling as Julia yawned. Gail laughed when Julia let out a drooly raspberry before sleepily accepting a bottle of warm milk from her.

Since it was Julia’s first winter, Tony had been adamant that Julia sleep on the bed and not her bassinet.

“Infants lose heat faster than adults, Steve, and the younger they are, the less they can cope with the cold. Small babies can’t shiver yet and they don't have as much body fat to keep warm," he had said, as if Steve actually needed that much convincing.

Julia had been sleeping with them since the first hint of snow in the air and now that Gail was staying over the weekend before Christmas, she was spending the night with her Mama at the guest room just down the hall from Tony’s and Steve’s, all toasty and warm as JARVIS watched after all of them.

Julia drank her milk slowly, blue eyes blinking slowly before latching on to the mobile over her head.

“There we go, my love,” Tony said. He stroked her head and curly brown hair. “Your favorite blanket, your favorite bottle, your favorite jammies, your mobile, and your Mama, with your Daddies just down the hall.”

“Jae definitely seems to love that stone,” Gail muttered, looking up at the mobile again.

“We’ll leave you two to sleep. Come on, Tony,” Steve said, holding out a hand. “Night, Gail. Night, Julia.”

Tony pressed a few more kisses to their baby before sending a flying kiss to Gail.

“I know you won’t steal my baby, Gail Antera,” he said, slowly sliding out of bed and placing a pillow in his place. “So just make sure no one else does.”

“Will do,” Gail said, chuckling and holding out a hand to Julia’s tiny one. “Shall we have a bedtime story, my little miracle?”

Steve bid the mother-daughter good night and took his husband to their room. After completing their nighttime routines, he and Tony got into bed, facing one another and Tony snuggling against Steve’s broad chest.

“The love of my life in my bed while my daughter and her mother are asleep just down the hall.” Steve sighed, feeling himself sink deeper into the bed and tightening his hold around Tony. “How perfect.”

Tony chortled. “You know, if a stranger heard that, it’d cause quite a scandal. They’d think Captain America was cheating.”

Steve snorted. “They would if they didn’t know I was in love with a man, which is impossible. Everybody knows I’m in love with only one person.”

Steve grinned as Tony flushed, red and blotchy in that way he did when he was caught off guard and didn’t have time to compose himself. He chuckled when his husband hid his warm face in Steve’s chest.

“Shut up. Sleep,” Tony mumbled. “Love you.”

“Love you too.”

 

 

 

As expected, Thor ended up engaging in a massive, thunderous sulk at finding out he had missed Gail… for the umpteenth time.

“It’s completely uncanny,” Jane said, patting Thor’s head from where it was buried in her lap, his massive arms wrapped around her tiny waist.

Clint was snickering from his perch on top of the fridge. He had been the one to break the news to Thor, showing her the selfie he took with Gail.

“I think it’s hilarious,” the archer said, only to yelp when Mjolnir suddenly shot off its spot hanging from the Christmas tree and flew past Clint, bringing his legs up in the nick of time lest they be dragged right off him. “Hey!”

Thor caught the hammer before it could hit Jane and then let his arm flop down, sending the hammer thudding against the carpet.

“Hey! Hey! Baby in the room. Let’s keep any magical levitating items out of the way,” Tony said from the loveseat close to Julia’s playpen.

Steve had finally convinced Tony to allow the bots to come up to the common room and play with Julia for a few minutes. Only one at a time though and always with either Tony or Steve to watch after them. Today it was Butterfingers’ turn. Julia was in the mood to throw stuff around and the bot was studiously wheeling around picking up the toys Julia was throwing out of her playpen and handing them back to her. She screeched at each toy returned, obviously enjoying herself.

“There, there, darling. It can’t be helped,” Jane said, kissing the top of Thor’s head. “Julia’s here though, and she’s always happy to see you.”

Thor sniffed and let go of Jane. “Aye, the babe is much better company than the likes of some.” He sent a baleful glare at the still-snickering Clint and then clomped towards Julia’s playpen, plopping inside. Julia, always glad to have a doting audience, let out a giggle and crawled towards Thor.

“I would rather spend my days with you, my darling child,” Thor said, cradling her in his arms. As if in reply, Julia let out a raspberry which made the god of thunder chuckle in amusement. “And indeed, we should not be saddened. Tis the season of joy and you make every day so much brighter.”

Thor and Julia than proceeded to play catch with Butterfingers, laughing and giggling in amusement.

Steve noticed Jane get an odd expression on her face. Tony seemed to have noticed it too and they shared a curious expression. Yeah, something to talk about later.

There was the soft swish of the elevator doors opening and boots stomping their way down the hall. Bucky, Phil, and Natasha walked in, and immediately there was pandemonium.

“Ooh!” Julia beamed when she saw her aunts and uncles, tired but alive and safe.

“Welcome back, guys,” Steve said, as Jane let out her own greetings and Tony gave a lazy wave.

“Our comrades have returned safe and hale.” Thor clapped his large hands. He lifted Julia out of the playpen and let her crawl to them.

Clint tossed himself off the top of the fridge and made a beeline for the trio. Natasha was closest and he fluttered about, wanting to touch her but waiting for her permission. She grabbed his hand and murmured something to him that made him calm down. Bucky made to pass them on his way to the couch, but Clint’s hand shot out, grabbing his vest. Bucky didn’t seem too put out and they glanced at one another meaningfully before Clint let the man go. Phil simply walked up to Clint, flicked him on the forehead and then headed for the loveseat.

“You can’t have them all, Barton. Learn to share,” Tony called out. “And I can’t believe I’m saying that to you and not the six month old.”

Clint raised a finger behind his back in reply.

Natasha sat down on the couch, shoving Tony’s feet aside. Phil collapsed on the loveseat close to Jane. Bucky immediately splayed out on the floor. Steve took a moment to check him over, but there were no injuries as far as he could see.

“Are you dead, soldier-boy?” Tony asked.

“Close enough,” Bucky drawled. He and Steve shared a look and Bucky sent him a thumbs up. Steve finally let himself relax completely. They could talk later, once everyone had rested.

Bucky looked up when he felt something on his forehead, only to see that Julia had scooted over by his head. “Why do I have a baby leaking all over me?”

As if in reply, Juliana let out a raspberry.

“She didn’t know how to do that before,” Natasha commented, huffing tiredly. “Good job, Yulia.”

“Lady Darcy bears credit for the babe’s new skill,” Thor said, and then let out a mighty raspberry of his own, so loud it made Julia screech happily.

“You’re so smart, zvonochek,” Bucky said, rolling over to his front and pillowing his head in his arms. He let Julia grab a finger. “Now baby, say Bucky!”

Juliana blew a raspberry and then said, “Ba! Boo!”

Clint grinned and dropped down beside Bucky. “She said baboon. Close enough,” he teased, leaning back to avoid Bucky’s lazy swipe at him. Bucky seemed too tired to engage in a fight though and settled back down, and Clint placed a hand between his shoulder blades.

Steve grinned, pleased to see Clint a little more back to his usual self.

“And where is Darcy, giver of knowledge?” Natasha asked. She had bullied Tony into giving her a foot massage.

“Oh, she and Bruce went to get pizza and takeout,” Steve said, grabbing his phone. “I should tell them to get more.”

“Already done,” Jane said, waving her own phone. “Movie night? Or is everyone too tired for it?”

“Let’s do Disney tonight. Something for Julia and something I can sleep through,” Bucky said. Both Natasha and Phil nodded.

“Shower, food, then sleep-slash-movie,” Tony said. “Jay, queue our Disney playlist!”

“Of course, sir,” JARVIS replied promptly.

 

[Image 1: It’s a high angle photo – most likely taken by JARVIS – showing everyone gathered in the living room, bundled up in warm sweaters and blankets with various snacks. Julia, Tony and Steve are in the middle couch. Julia is dressed in a red sweater, mittens, and a pompom hat. Tony and Steve are kissing over her head. Bucky is on the floor, holding up a candy cane to Julia and making a face at Steve and Tony. Clint is beside Bucky, holding up a sign that says ‘Happy 6th Month Juliana!!! ~~From Uncle~~ Clint.’ Phil is munching and popcorn beside Natasha, who is trying to kick Clint from the other seat, while Darcy is pouting and is taking a marker to the last three words. Thor, Jane, and Bruce are on the other couch, watching the TV off view of the camera, with Thor eating a four-pizza-sandwich and Bruce explaining something to Jane about what they were watching.]

[Image 2: It is Julia’s first Christmas and the Avengers’ first Christmas photo with the baby. They are arranged in front of the tree and their massive wall of stockings, all of them wearing Santa hats. On the floor – Phil sitting cross-legged, Bruce smiling shyly, Clint and Bucky leaning close to one another, and Darcy making peace signs. Seated behind them – Natasha and Pepper cheeks together and smiling, Tony with Julia perched on his shoulders, and Jane with a hand on Darcy’s shoulder. Standing at the back – Rhodey and Happy waving at the camera, Steve beaming and holding onto Julia’s hands, and Thor leaning down so he could be close to Jane. DUM-E, U, and Butterfingers are in the background, claws up, and JARVIS is the one who took the photo.

Clint, Darcy, Natasha, Rhodey, and Tony posts the photo online and it trends all the way until the New Year.]

[Image 3: Gail and Juliana are curled up in bed with Gail reading a sleepy Julia her bedtime story. Juliana’s mobile is seen hanging over their heads.]

[Image 4: Tony, Steve and Julia are dressed in matching red and green sweaters standing in front of their Christmas tree. Tony has Julia in his arms and Steve is holding a mistletoe over their heads as they both place a kiss on their giggling girl’s cheeks.]


End file.
